


Can't Go Back Now

by ThatOddNerd



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, F/M, M/M, Post episode 68, angst with a possible happy ending, episode 68
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-03-20 09:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 31,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13714692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOddNerd/pseuds/ThatOddNerd
Summary: Sammy Stevens left for King Falls in search of the only thing that ever really mattered to him, Jack Wright. Now, three years later, he still can't find Jack, and has fooled himself more than others into thinking finding him was a possibility. He wants to give up, but the mysterious powers of King Falls won't let him.Mostly Sammy/Jack related drabbles, ranging from fluffy to angst ridden.





	1. Memories and Phone Calls

 

* * *

 

 

Sammy’s phone had been ringing and pinging non-stop all day, from as soon as he left the station till now, almost 12 hours later, and he ignored it. He could see who was calling from the phone’s position on his nightstand, and he slumped against the headboard of his bed. Ben, several times an hour, call and text. Emily, several times every two hours, including several texts and one that almost managed to make him smile. “I keyed Frickard’s car.” A text from Ben 20 minutes later “Emily keyed Fuckard’s car AND gave him another black eye.”. Troy, Archie (How he got his number he wasn’t sure.), Ron, Loretta, Mary, Betty, even Hershall. 

Several weird callers and texts from numbers he didn’t know.

None of them a number or name that he wanted to see.

If he had been honest with himself, he would have told Ben that a part of him gave up as soon as he entered this damn town, as soon as he got lost in Sweetzer Forest, as soon as he was ‘told’ about General Abeline because _how_. How was it this town, this innocent on the outside looking town, managed to consume the man that he loved so intensely? Had Lily been right when, in one of her angry, scathing messages she’d left after Jack disappeared, that he didn’t disappear, he just left Sammy for something else, he realized Sammy was a fraud, an asshole, a waste of time? But of course, that ended up not being what happened. Jack was just gone, period.

Jack was gone, and Sammy was sure he had an idea as to where, or at least as to who knew where.

Why had he stayed for so long? Why had he stayed for _three years_? Did he really think Jack was there? Alive?

His mind betrayed him and immediately answered, ‘ _Yes, of course you did. Because you love him._ ’.

Love. Present tense. Not loved.

_Get your shit together Stevens. Take the hint from the universe, he isn’t alive, just leave, become a hermit somewhere, so the world doesn’t have to be exposed to your idiocy._

As he drained the last dregs of his last bottle of Fireball, Sammy looked at his phone, nearly dead now. 300 text messages, 100 missed calls, and 50 voicemails. Most of them from Ben.

Ben, his wonderful best friend, his co-host, and the one he feels like he has disappointed the most in all this. He knew going into the year he wouldn’t be there much longer, but he had hoped he would have been able to tell Ben in a…less dramatic fashion than he had.

In the end, he disappointed everyone in his life.

When he was younger, he never really ‘came out’ to his family, his parents already knew, and his cousins, Louise and Robert, who felt like siblings to him, knew as well. He dated a couple of times in college, but nothing too serious. Most people either didn’t know or didn’t comment if they did know. He hadn’t really ever been the ‘settle down’ type, the ‘commitment’ type, not out of any cliché really, he just never ‘clicked’ with anyone enough to consider it. After his mother died when he was 26 of breast cancer, his want to find that happiness dwindled even more, his anger at the world for taking his mother away, damaging his relationship with his father, and his cousins move across the country after the funeral leading him down the ‘loner’ path.

And then he moved to San Francisco, California from Portland, Oregon when he was 26 and that is when it happened, that is when he met Jack. He’d been hired by a local newspaper as a new ‘Think Piece’ writer, something Jack would later tease him _endlessly_ for, and had been told on his first day that the Wright siblings, Jack and Lily, of the paper’s sister journal were the ones he would have to impress, to try and out do, to aim for. He met them in person a month later at a dinner held by a benefactor of both of the paper’s, and Sammy still cringed when he thought of how much he blushed and fumbled over his words when he met them, _especially_ Jack. He wasn’t prepared for Jack. Lily had seen how red his face had gotten and had smirked, well aware of her brother’s effect on…everyone really. But especially the new guy from up north. Jack was flirty with him, charming, and stuck close to him the entire night. Lily laughed and added some of her own wisdom and jokes to discussions. They used to be okay with each other.

They started dating a month later. They told each other about their childhoods, their hopes and dreams. They grew closer. Sammy, Lily, and Jack started their own blog and then their own, small podcast. It wasn’t much but it meant something to them. They rose in the ranks of their papers, earning reputations and awards for their journalism.  Three years into the relationship, Sammy had told Jack he wanted to be in his own show, doing his own thing, that he dreamed of being the household name that was loved and hated in equal measure. He wanted to be famous.

With a sly grin that had convinced him years earlier to say yes to a first date, Jack told him they should do exactly that. But not there, not in San Francisco. They needed to go somewhere else. They needed to start a new life.

And that’s how they ended up on a plane to Seattle, Washington less than five hours later, having packed only essentials and a few keepsakes, telling no one they were going.

Now, seven years later, the elation he’d felt on that plane, the giddiness over doing something naughty, the joy of being there with Jack was…gone. Just like Jack.

He’d loved him, he loved him more than any of it. Sure the fame and fortune were nice. The house, the cars, all the fancy things had been great. But none of it meant anything without him, without Jack.

And now, now what? Leave? What else could he do? He didn’t want to give up Jack, but how could he go on knowing he would face a time where he _didn’t_ think about Jack?

His phone went off again, startling him. He sees an unknown number on the screen, and, tired, spent and distraught, he picks it up, fully ready to tell off someone like Pete or whoever for calling him at midnight like an ass. With 19% battery left, he swipes to answer and hears a sickeningly familiar dark sound, the same as when Debbie had been in trouble the first time…

“Who is this? Debbie? Is that you?”

“This isn’t Debbie no. Should I be worried?” The voice at the other end sends chills down his spine, and he feels the bile building in his throat. He hasn’t heard that voice as not a recording in over three years. He hears a loud explosion outside, and starts when he can hear it faintly on the other end of the line. “Sammy?” the voice asks. “You there? This is kind of hard to do… the lines get crossed and…” Sirens outside his window, past the fence and in the street, shouting. The explosion sounded like it came from the edge of town. He hears static, and then a low, terrifying sound he’s heard before. “Please, Sammy… I just…the darkness is coming back. I don’t have…I just want to hear your voice…”

Pure chaos outside, a nightmare, people in the streets. He hears his neighbor say something about the Institute…

“Sammy, please…”

“Jack… I…” more static, the low sound getting stronger and stronger until…

“Sammy, I’m sorry. I lo-“the line dies and Sammy is now bolt upright in bed. His worst fears realized, his anger real, his confusion multiplied.

Jack was there. Jack was stuck wherever Debbie had been as well.

But more importantly…he could hear the explosion and the screaming and sirens very faintly in the distance on the other end of the line.

Maybe  he shouldn’t give up on his search after all.

 


	2. One Year Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One year after Jack is found, all is well.
> 
> Just a light hearted one-shot to lighten up the mood.

“Hello all, and welcome to the Sammy, Ben, and Jack show, on King Falls AM, 660 on the radio dial. We got a good show lined up for you tonight folks, right after our co-producer Jack stops flipping me off for adding his name to the show title for the fourteenth time in a row.” Sammy grinned at the tall, lanky, black haired man sitting next to Ben across the table, clipboard in his left hand, headphones on, and his right hand flipping him off. Ben laughed and wrote a note in his phone, before turning the phone to Jack, who read it, nodded, and then both of them burst out laughing. Sammy rolled his eyes, but still grinned.

“We  got announcements about upcoming events, including the new fishing tournament at Ron Begley’s lake,  I hear there’s been sightings of Kingsy, and the new chili cook off being hosted by Rosa’s. Later, we’ll have guest…”

“Dr. Creepy.” Ben cut in. Sammy rolled his eyes.

“Dr. Jeffrey Rosenblum, our very own county coroner, in to talk about the dangers of the gases stuck in Regent Forest outside of town, and why it shouldn’t be explored, and he’ll have…wait, what?” Sammy looked up from his list at both of them, frowning. Jack tried not to smile, and Ben laughed. “He’ll have…examples of what this gas could possibly do to more…sensitive areas of your body. Stop by if you seriously want to get out of bed at such an ungodly hour to look at a messed up phallus.” Jack burst out laughing, unable to hold it in, and turned away in his chair to control himself. “The sound you hear is Jack acting like a 13 year old.”

“I wasn’t acting like a 13 year old yesterday morning.” Jack said, looking pointedly at his boyfriend, head tilted and smirking. Both Ben and Sammy flushed, and Jack cackled.

“I uh…I’m sure the listeners will appreciate that insight into our home life there, thanks Jack.” Sammy replied, still beet red.

“Jack in the Box Jesus, never work with a couple.” Ben muttered, shuffling the papers in front of him on the table. “Anyway,” he continued, admittedly enjoying seeing his best friend of three years embarrassed as all hell. “While the most sickeningly cute couple of King Falls flirts, I will start things off by remind you all that the Easter Day Picnic at the Park is coming up. If you’re interested in signing up as a volunteer, Rosa’s Diner is offering a free meal to each of the people who fill the fifty spots needed for the event, and remember, volunteer work looks good on college resumes as well, for all you youngin’s out there. The picnic is a potluck, but drinks, plates, and silverware are being donated by…wait seriously…okay, are being donated by Herschel Baumgardner, who will also be at the grill as well… perhaps check for extra pepper or ghost chili sauce if you eat from the grill…”

  
“Cecil’s on line two.” Sammy interrupts, with a smile on his face that could only mean mischief.

“Jack in the Box Jesus, wha…”

“Herschel says…Herschel wants me to tell you guys that…” They hear Herschel talking in the background of the call, a few choice cuss words and terms making it through the muffled sounds of the line “He wants you to know that…geez Herschel, I can’t say that to them, what…” there’s muffled noises and then Herschel is on the line, and Jack wants to laugh at the audible groan the other two men give off.

“Now listen here you two colly-waggin sons of…”

“Hello Mr. Baumgardner, how are you this fine…” Ben started back in but sighed when he was cut off again.

“Don’t you interrupt me you mother-“ the beep noise is played before he can even utter the sounds of the F and both Ben and Sammy looked at Jack, impressed by his speed with the button. He shrugged and began to write something on the clipboard in his hand.

“Herschel, why are you botherin’ Ben and Ben’s friends again? I…”

“Go to bed you drunk.” Herschel snapped. In the studio they heard shuffling and a clank, and then the line went dead.

“Uh…”Ben looked at both Sammy and Jack and they shrugged. “Well then, um…” the hotline phone rang again, and Ben looked warily at it before answering. “Hello, you’re live with Sammy, Ben, and Jack…” Sammy gave him a thumbs up while Jack rolled his eyes. “Who may I ask is calling?”

“Why. Hello. Fellas.”

“Jack in the box Jesus…”Ben muttered. “Hello Dr. Rosenblum.”

“Hello. Mr. Arnold. Mr. Stevens. Mr. Wright.” Jack shuttered at hearing his name from the Doctor, and Sammy snickered. Jack glared at him and scribbled something else on the paper in front of him.

“So, Regent Forest…” Sammy began, bending down to read ‘Don’t push it, or you sleep on the couch later.’ In Jack’s neat handwriting.

“Yes. Well.” Dr. Rosenblum went on to spend five solid minutes describing, in graphic detail, the effects of the gases on a person’s innards, and Sammy began to wonder if he’d made a mistake getting the good doctor to call in. “Oh…it looks like…I need…to go…”

In the background they could hear someone shouting ‘ROSENBLUM, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT OF THE PEACE GARDEN!’ before Rosenblum said goodbye, and the line went dead.

“Why…why though…” Jack asked, rubbing his eyes, tired.

“It’s been four years and I still don’t know.” Sammy replied, handing him his coffee from nearby. “Lucky line number four, you are on King Falls AM…” the tinkling music began and Jack dropped the call right away.

“Nope. Not after last time.” Jack explained.

“She’s just bitter because you managed to scare her off the air last time.” Ben commented, laughing.

“Line number three, you’re li-“Ben began.

“Benjamin Arnold, what’s this I hear about a chili cook off at that foul mouthed, denim cut-off wearing man’s facility?”

“Jack in the Box Jesus…” all three men muttered, as Cynthia continued to rant, the wind continued to sound outside the studio, and the hum of the equipment once more led them through the night.


	3. The Story of Them, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sammy knew the day he met the Wright siblings, his life would change forever. He just wasn't sure how.

* * *

 

Samuel “Sammy” Stevens had never been entirely one to lie about his issues, but he wasn’t exactly forthcoming with them either. With general anxiety and social disorders, he just was never much one for parties or big crowds, which, considering he’d moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California for  dual degrees in entertainment and journalism, seemed ironic to many.  He’d come to the school, and Los Angeles in general, chasing the same dream so many poor souls chased when they went there; fame, fortune, and a chance for something better.

He was lonely. He’d made a few friends, sure, but not many, and he rarely ever went out with them. His anxiety was getting a bit better, but not enough for that, not enough to go out drinking with his friends or even to a poetry slam at a quiet bar they had assured him he’d be fine in, as it was little known and barely anyone went to it. He’d thank them but decline, choosing to stay in and study instead.

Then, he met the Wright siblings in his second semester at the school, and almost like the most cliché college romance story, his life changed.

Jack was in his Journalism’s Evolution class, but he met Lily first in his Marketing class, both siblings deciding to sit next to him, despite several seats being open around them.

“Lily Wright, Entertainment and Journalism.” Lily had held out her hand, a warm smile on her face, her long black hair in a braid, piercing blue eyes making Sammy feel slightly uncomfortable. As he would learn later, the Wright siblings had that effect on everyone. It felt like they were piercing into your soul, and it made you as attracted to them as it made you intimidated by them. He liked Lily. She was smart, witty, and just as sarcastic as him. She could be biting, but even after they argued, they would make peace. There was an odd understanding between them.

When he saw Jack for the first time he almost kicked himself for acting like such a high schooler because _Jesus_ , he was hot, and Sammy felt the red rise in his cheeks right away. Just like with Lily, Jack looked around the room, students filing in, Sammy sitting near the back in a corner, and, spotting him, smiles and walks straight for the back row. He slides into the seat next to Sammy, holds out his hand, and introduces himself without missing a beat. When Sammy hears the last name he asks if he’s any relaiton to Lily Wright and Jack threw his head back and laughed, one of those laughs that is infectious, and said that Lily was his older sister.

“But only by a year and a half. Our parents had us one after the other. Didn’t want us to grow up without a companion I guess.”

The three became inseperable, and much to the amazement of several of his other classmates and friends, Sammy Stevens started to socialize more. It wasn’t too much of a schock to anyone who had met the Wright siblings, as they just had a way of bringing you out of yourself, making you talk to them, challenging you to challenge yourself and have some fun.

Then came the night  the three of them had gotten drunk as all hell and decided to play Truth or Dare like a bunch of high schoolers, and the dynamic shifted.

“So, Sammy boy, truth…truth or…” Lily hiccuped before taking the bottle of Fireball from Sammy’s grasp and pouring herself another shot. “Dare?”

“I am way too drunk to safely do any dare so…truth.”

“Alrighty then,” she began, giving her brother a look that, even in their massively intoxicated state, both men knew she was about to do something mischevous and potentially life changing. Jack realized what was about to happen first, and panic crossed his face.

“Lily…” Jack warned. Lily smiled.

“Jack.” Lily mocked. Sammy was mildly confused. “So, Sammy, do you have a crush on my brother?” Sammy flushed and Jack covered his face with his hands, embarassed.

“I…I just…Jack is…”

“Sammy it’s fine, really. You don’t have to answer. That was a dick move Lily.” Jack snapped, suddenly feeling very sober and very embarrased.

“What?” Lily exclaimed, not seeing the issue. She wasn’t stupid or naïve, she’d seen the way the two of them looked at each other when the other wasn’t looking. It was painfully obvious, and she didn’t know how much longer she could go, watching the two of them dance around each other and act like they weren’t pining.“It’s not like it wouldn…wouldn’t be reciprocated!”

“Oh my god world, just swallow me whole.” Jack stumbled to get up from the couch and make his way down the hallway of the apartment they’d been sharing.

“Wait..what…” Sammy took a deep breath, trying to take in what had just happened and what that meant. Did Lily just say Jack had a crush on him? Was she serious or was she just messing with him to get a reaction? Lily muttered something about men being too chicken shit to confront their feelings before grabbing the bottle of Fireball and making her own way to her room, the happy mood of the night gone. Sammy, who occupied a third room in the apartment, could hardly push himself up off the couch, the revelation of this potentially life altering news, and the obscene amount of alcohol making it difficult.

 His mind buzzed, and he must have been infinitely more tired than he had thought, because he rested his eyes for what he believed to only be a few seconds, and when he woke, he was slumped to the side on the couch, a pillow under his head and blanket over him, barely covering his rather tall stature. He groaned and tried to sit up, his head automatically hitting the pillow again as the worst migraine of his life pulsed through.

“I left you some water, aspirin, and heavily buttered toast on the coffee table.” The voice from the kitchen made Sammy start, and he sat bolt upright despite his pounding head. He picked up the aspirin and water and downed both quickly, before picking the toast up and examining it, as if it had the answers for his confused brain. “Lily had to go, early morning job at the station. She looked like hell if that makes you feel any better.” Somehow that did, and Sammy couldn’t help but smile.

He also noticed that Jack hadn’t moved from his spot in the kitchen, leaning against the island, which was directly across the room from him, trying and failing to not stare. The memories of what had went down the night before had flooded into his brain as soon as he’d been awake enough to remember how to blink and breath, and he felt his face go hot once again. He heard Jack cough, and guessed he’d seen how red Sammy’s face had gone, which made him feel the blush even more.

“Listen, Jack…”

“Sammy, I just wanted to…” They both stopped, and tried not to think about how absurdly cliché their lives had been in the last twelve hours. “Listen, what Lily said last night…” Sammy was dreading his next words. ‘ _Not true. She was drunk. I’ll never be interested in you like that_.’ his mind buzzed. This could not be happening. He had finally been getting better, been open to the idea of becoming more social, trying to be more approachable, considering…dating. And now, here was something that would send the rumor mills a fire. Sammy Stevens has a crush on the Jack Wright, and is now stuck with an unrequited…what was it? Love? He wasn’t sure if he was in love with Jack, although something tugging at the back of his brain told him otherwise. “Sammy?” Sammy looked up suddenly, starting again when he realized Jack was now positioned less than a foot away from him on the coffee table, water and toast plate set off to the side, a concerned and embarrassed look on his face. “You weren’t listening, were you?”

“I’m willing the world to swallow me up whole because I am going to become to butt of many jokes and rumors at the station.” Sammy answered honestly, not wanting to meet Jack’s eyes.

“Why? Because I…because I’m…” Sammy heard Jack sigh and move to get up. “Look, I’m…I’m sorry. I don’t know how…she found out. Maybe I’m more transparent than I thought, I…”

“Wait what…” Sammy looked up at him, surprised, and Jack looked back at him, confused. “You…you uh…Lily wasn’t just…” Jack looked at him, his eyes searching inside him, and, Sammy almost believed he was seeing things, a bit of hope in his own eyes. It wasn’t that Jack didn’t know Sammy was gay, nor was it that Sammy didn’t know Jack was bisexual, it was just…

Well, Jack was always one for taking a leap of faith… He had decided that one day at the beginning of class to sit next to the hottest person in the room after all…

Breathing heavily, his nerves making him a bit shaky, Jack leaned forward and kissed the guy he’d had a crush on, although if he was being 100% honest with himself, he was in love by then, for the last two years. He was in love, and kissing the guy he loved, and the guy was not kissing back, oh no…

Jack began to move away, continuing the theme of the last twelve hours and wishing the ground would just swallow him whole and end his misery, when he felt a hand on his right elbow and another on the front of his shirt, pulling him back in, pulling him in closer. Two years of sexual tension came to a head with Jack straddling Sammy on the living room couch of the apartment they shared with his sister, and for a naïve day, Jack and Sammy were both sure that this could turn into a lifetime together. A forever, a high they would always be chasing and would catch.

Two years later they would run away together to start Shotgun Saturdays, alienating his sister, but bringing another high they were chasing and caught. Three years after that, one day, before their Saturday broadcast, Jack would receive a phone call from a caller with no name, and no number, but a voice that sent shivers down his spine and sparked his protective instinct into high gear.

“The shadows… they did not want me to tell but I must tell…”

“Who is this? Why is there no number showing up? Is this Sammy’s crazy stalker? What part of restraining order do you…”

“King Falls, it all happens there. That’s where they take them. That’s how they will take…him.” Jack sucked in a breath, beginning to shake, and he turned to look at Sammy, still looking over the schedule at his desk before they went into the studio.

“Listen, I don’t know if you think this is funny or…”

“Jokes. Always jokes. Always the assumption…” the voice, a combination of pure terror, heavy breathing, and just the unescapable sense of dread, began muttering to someone, or something on the other end of the line. “Never a joke. Never funny. The mystery and danger of King Falls will take him, and you won’t be able to…no, stop, I will tell him if I want!” the voice hollered at whatever else was on the other end of the line. “Don’t!” The line went dead, and Jack stood there, in the hallway outside the office he had shared with his secret boyfriend in the big city for three years, shaking, cold, and filled with pure dread.

“Jack? What’s wrong?” Jack jumped when he heard Sammy’s voice, now right next to him, and sure enough, there was Sammy standing there, papers in hand, concern written all over his face. “Was it one of the stalkers again?”

“Y…yeah, no, it was…just a prank…” Jack replied, giving a weak smile. “Some punk ass kids trying to scare me.” Sammy rolled his eyes in solidarity, before nodding down the hall towards the recording booth. Jack nodded and followed behind, bringing up Google on his phone, and typing ‘King Falls, paranormal’ into the search bar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know, I'm sorry. This started out with the aim of being a cute and cheery 'How They Got Together' chapter and it just...happened okay. 
> 
> If it's any consolation I scared the shit out of myself writing that last part because even THINKING about the Shadow Person gives me the creeps.


	4. Hope and Rose's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sammy had been house hopping ever since he agreed to stay in King Falls. Partially to not be alone, partially so he wouldn't run. He decided he likes staying at Emily's the best.

* * *

 

Sammy started staying at friends’ houses a lot after he agreed to stay. Or rather, Ben insisted he stay with friends, because Sammy believes that Ben believed he was in a bad enough place to do something drastic, even though he said he wasn’t, and so that he wouldn’t run. He can’t prove it, but he didn’t fight it either, it was coming from a good place. He alternates between Emily’s, Troy’s, and Ben’s, and, after a month of this, decides he likes Emily’s place the best. Ben is great, and supportive, and he can relate to him, but he’s also high energy and constantly coming up with ideas to talk to him about, and it can get tiring. He loves Troy, Loretta, and Troy’s mother is genuinely sweet. Everyone is so understanding and loving, and they’ve (The Krieghauser clan) basically made him a member of the family. But the house is small, enough for the three of them and Sammy for a bit, but it gets cramped, and Sammy swears he heard Loretta whispering something to Troy’s mother about possibly being pregnant. Emily has a spare bedroom in her small house that is in a quiet part of a hillside area with five other houses. She is understanding, and they talk, yeah, but she has a keen sense of gauging when he wants to talk and when he doesn’t. Ben is over all the time, so he still sees him plenty.

He’s been at Emily’s for a week now, and he feels bad. He feels like he’s imposing. He usually rotates every three days or so and he has been there for seven days, and going on his eighth night. He packs up his bag to leave the next morning after he sleeps a couple of hours after work, and then leaves to get dinner from Rose’s because it is his turn, Ben’s got a meeting with ‘someone’, he wouldn’t say who, and so it’s just him and Emily. He’s at Rose’s, and is asked if any spicy mustard is wanted for the Rueben, which is what Emily ordered. Sammy can’t remember what she said about it, so he calls the landline, and gets the message machine.

‘ _Hello, you’ve reached the residence of Emily Potter and Sammy Stevens. We’re sorry we couldn’t make it to the phone in time but…_ ’

Emily picks up the phone and asks if anything is wrong, and Sammy is still shocked from the message, to the point where he just says “Spicy mustard.” And she replies in the affirmative.

When he gets back to the house, he puts the food on the counter, doesn’t mention the message machine’s pick up message, and goes to get his laptop because Ben has been hounding on him lately to ‘Read your fucking e-mails Sammy, Jack in the Box Jesus, it’s like talking to a simulation.’ , and when he gets to the spare room…

His name is on a small sign next to the door, and when he enters the room, his bag that he had packed before is unpacked. Everything is back into dressers and closets, his laptop is on its usual spot on the night stand, and his other stuff is back where it had been that morning. He grabs the laptop and wanders back into the living room where Emily has set everything out, handing him a cup of coffee as he sat down on the couch.

“So, I have a Jack question, if you don’t mind.” Emily begins, “I don’t…think it’s too personal but I could be wrong. Feel free to say no.” Sammy decides to put the questions he has aside and gears himself up for the question.

“Go ahead.” He replies, silently hoping it had nothing to do with why he didn’t come to King Falls right away to look for him.

“When did you know you were in love with him?” Sammy sucks in a breath, the memories of his relationship with Jack swirling through his head. He pauses for a few seconds, and he considers telling her it’s too personal but…

But for the first time he is imagining moments with Jack, intimate moments where they just sat on the couch and breathed in the air, fire crackling, in bed, those tiny and far between moments where they held hands at the radio station, eating dinner, watching the moon from the balcony…

“It was…about five and a half years ago.” Sammy began, putting his food down and leaning back against the couch. “I think I’d already been in love with him for ages, but I only admitted it to myself when we were already moved in together. We were at our house and we’d been…” Sammy hates himself because he’s actually _blushing_ , and it makes Emily laugh. “We were just lying there in bed and Jack was talking about something, I don’t remember what exactly, and he turns his head towards me and asks me if I agree, and I just…something dropped into my stomach, an overwhelming feeling that made me feel excited and dizzy at the same time. It was such a cliché, I stopped breathing for a second, and I realized…I realized that Jack was it for me.” Emily had been leaning forward, listening to him, her face concentrated, and almost as if she was holding her breath. “I also felt very afraid, and that wasn’t pleasant. The dread of possibly losing him was overwhelming and I hated that. I felt like the possibility would be the worst thing ever, and…” Sammy sighed. “I was right. And I never really…I never really told him. And that’s one of the biggest regrets of my life.”

Emily wants to hug him, but she knows that might make it worse, Sammy’s not a very touchy feely sort of guy, so she just nods and offers him some fries from her plate.

“I think…I get it.” Emily is eating again, but figures since she got Sammy to open up about something so…important, she should share too. “I remember just last week…we were out doing research for finding Jack and…Ben was so animated. Not that that’s anything new, but he was just so intense and into what he was talking about. He’s so passionate and driven and…caring. And I think…” Emily’s face turned a crimson color that made Sammy want to laugh but he held back.

“You should tell him. I’m pretty sure he feels the same.” Sammy commented, picking his plate back up.

“Yeah, well…I’ll tell him when you tell Jack, how about that?” Emily challenged, smiling.

“I…”

“ ‘Yes, Emily, that’s a great idea. We’ll both do just that.’” Emily cut in, doing her best mock impression of his low voice, and Sammy couldn’t help but smile.

As they finished their food, both falling into a comfortable silence, Sammy thought about what she had said and what she’d done for him, now and in years past, and knew that she was definitely one of his best friends. He also felt, for the first time in ages, a feeling he’d thought he would never feel again…

Hope.


	5. Fates, Fires, and Food

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is saved. The Science Institute is ablaze. Sammy is whole once again, and food is discussed.

* * *

 

The last thing Jack remembers before…this…before the darkness, was the morning he went to leave for King Falls. He remembers waking up insanely early, and moving carefully so he wouldn’t wake up Sammy. Secretly he is happy Sammy said no to coming with him, he wasn’t entirely sure what would happen when he went to the mountain town, and the warning he’d gotten over a year ago, and the subsequent calls since them, made him want to keep Sammy as far away from the place as possible.

But he had to keep up the charade.

So he got up, got out of bed, packed a duffel bag, and got ready to leave. After he showered and had some coffee, he came back up the stairs and into their room to get his bag. He grabbed it and paused at the doorway to the room, watching Sammy sleep from the dim light coming from the hallway. He wanted to stay, he wanted to crawl back into bed and sling his arm around his boyfriend and just go back to sleep.

But he had something he had to do, and the future of the person he loved was at stake. Whether it be a creepy stalker or something more…supernatural, he wasn’t going to let anything happen to him.

He went down stairs, the car already on and humming, the heater on full blast, and then, as he opened the front door, he saw it. The darkness, a shadow emerging from the steps up to the front door, and the same feeling of dread he had when he got those phone calls.

“See.” The voice was familiar and he felt his stomach dropped. “I tried to warn you and yet here you are, falling into the trap. They always fall into the trap.” The darkness reached out , and before Jack could even begin to scream…he was gone.

Time doesn’t exist in the void, Jack learns that quickly. What feels like days ends up being seconds, and sometimes seconds are months. He’s a bit hungry, a bit thirsty, but he won’t die, and that itself was disconcerting.

He doesn’t know how long he’s been in the  Void, how many times he has been tortured with mind games, when he hears it, hears a voice that is so familiar yet so distant. So welcome and yet the sound of it strikes a fear in his heart…

Through the Void and the connection between those who have been taken by it, he hears…

“Hello, you’re on the Sammy and Ben Show, on King Falls AM, 660 on the radio dial…”

Sammy in King Falls…no. No, no, no, no , no, no, _no_.

After that, almost as if He honed in on another way  to torture him, every once in a while he can hear the broadcast, he can hear Sammy’s show, and while occasionally he feels a bit of joy and hope at hearing him, hearing the person he loves more than anything, alive and alright, it is almost immediately crushed by the thought that He will try to take him, to hurt him. That all his research and effort, all the anger and arguments his research caused, all his work on trying to keep whatever He was away from Sammy was for nothing. Because he became obsessed with King Falls, and he disappeared, and of course Sammy followed to find him.

He sometimes hears Lily and her shows, and it’s like the hammer hammering the last nail in his coffin because now He and himself are responsible for the two most important people in his life being in a place that could kill them both and it is _torture_.

Sometimes they manifest before him, unreal versions of his sister and his boyfriend, sometimes sweet, sometimes biting, always ending with them dissolving in a gruesome manner. The guilt and anger become too much to bear, and once, when the Void posed itself as a set of woods, he tried to climb the tallest tree and jump off…only to be sitting on the ground of a place that looked an awful lot like his and Sammy’s house in Seattle.

It’s torture.

The void is filled with anger and sadness. It is filled with fear and anxiety and unsureness. It is filled with every wrong feeling ever, constantly pulsing through one’s body, ever relentless.

He is losing…has lost his mind, and it is excruciating because a part of him is holding on. How long had he been there? A month? A year? Two years? Ten years? It was impossible to tell.

He hears the broadcast where Sammy quits and his heart is torn out of him. Not because Sammy says he is giving up after three years ( _Has it really only been three years?_ ), but because the amount of pain he hears in his voice is breaking the last parts of him. He wants to escape, wants to break free and run. He wants to be able to call out like Debbie can and tell Sammy he loves him and that he needs to leave. _Now_. But he can’t. Dialing out is difficult and so far Debbie has been the only one to achieve it, and she sparks in and out of his own section of the Void.

Then one day, the Void breaks into chaos. He is screeching, the world is thrown around like the inside of a tornado. He hears screaming, feels a stab of pain, and blacks out.

When he wakes up, he is startled by everything around him. He feels things first, before his eyes even open, and it is not the cold nothingness of the Void but…the hard, cold, wet ground of asphalt. He feels himself breathing, his chest rising, a weird sensation after feeling, well, nothing really, for so long.  There is still screaming, and he hears shouting, police and fire truck sirens blare in the distance. As his eyes open he can also feel a bit of warmth, and sees a rather formidable building, with the words Science Institute in a blocked font at the front entrance, on fire. There is a greenish black light emitting from the top and he feels the control of the Void fading.

“Jack?” His breath is almost knocked out of him, and he realizes the warmth he feels is under his back, shoulders, and head, like someone being cradled by someone sitting on the ground. Which is exactly what is happening. He finally looks straight upwards, and reacts almost instantly. He scrambles, pushing himself up, much to the protest of the person who was cradling him, and after turning himself around, launches himself at Sammy, knocking him off his butt and his back onto the asphalt, his arms in a vice grip around his shoulders, legs pinning his to the ground. He feels hands on his sides, gripping tight to the shirt and jeans he is now realizing don’t fit quite as right as they did before.

“Sammy.” He breathes his name like a prayer, like a saying, like a lucky charm, and, as he feels Sammy move them to readjust so they are at least sitting up, the solidness of him made him want to hold on tighter. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Sammy replies, his head resting on Jack’s shoulder. “I love you, I love you, I love you. I’m so sorry. I…” Jack pulled away to look at him and smiled, touching his hair and trying not to laugh.

“You grew it out more.” Jack’s voice was still a bit raspy and weak from long stretches of disuse.

“Yeah.” Sammy looks bemused but also like he wants to laugh, because of all the things Jack could comment on at that moment, he chose Sammy’s hair. “You need to get checked out…” Sammy began, and Jack couldn’t help it, something about being back in the world, being back with _him_ , sparked life, a feeling he thought he’d never feel again, into him.

“Well I think you’re currently checking me out enough as it is…” He did a suggestive eyebrow raise that made Sammy roll his eyes, and he laughed. Just then he heard running against …wet pavement? When had it started raining?

“Sammy! Come on! Ben’s got the car running, we need to go. We’re gonna take both of you to the hospital right now. Troy and Ron have people distracted. It’s still a bit of a fiasco. We need to go now.” A young woman with blonde hair thrown up in a messy bun and bright green eyes gave Sammy a look and he nodded, telling Jack to get up, they had to go. They ran to a grey 4-Runner where a young man with a shock of dark curly hair shouted for Sammy and himself to get into the back seats now. The girl jumped into the front passenger’s seat after they were in, and they left the building parking lot, still burning hot despite the rain, for the open road.

A few days later, after being questioned twenty times by a man named Gunderson, whom Jack decided right away he didn’t like, having those interrogations taken over by FBI agents, specifically by an agent named Reagan Spears, someone Jack did like and later learned was a friend of Sammy’s, being checked over multiple times by doctors and psychologists, going in and out of consciousness from the sedatives, visits from people who were apparently friends of Sammy, such as the mentioned Troy and Ron, Ben, the girl who he learned was named Emily, and a few other people, seeing his sister again, and overhearing conversations he probably shouldn’t have, Jack was finally going home. Or rather, he went to Sammy’s apartment in the town, a decent place, definitely smaller than their place in Seattle, but still good. Like a cliché from a rom-com he always said he hated, as far as he was concerned, he came home when he realized he was home when he saw Sammy’s face above him in the parking lot.

Jack decided that this Emily girl was amazing, her knowledge of literature and the classics, something Jack loved quite a bit, being his only light when Sammy had to leave the hospital room for stretches of time, her kindness to someone she didn’t know, and her help in getting him out of the Void and that building as he later learned, was amazing. He liked Ben as well, getting to know the vibrant, hands all around when speaking, a bit scarily like himself young man who had been his boyfriend’s best friend and co-host for three years. They risked a lot to save some guy they never met,  a big risk with no assurance it would end well, and Jack knew it had a lot to do with how much they loved Sammy. That alone endeared them to him right away. It was good to know there were people watching over him while Jack was missing.

“Alright, let’s see…I don’t know if the upstairs bedroom is a great idea right now. Maybe the downstairs guest room…” Sammy was talking more to himself than Jack, Ben, or Emily as he surveyed his apartment for places for Jack to rest.

“I’d really love something to drink and eat.” Jack admitted, nodding towards the living room/kitchen area and, more pointedly, the fridge.

“Fuck…”Sammy whispered.

“What?” Jack asked, worried. “Are you having an anxiety attack? Did that exposure to the Void hurt you after all? Is there…” The concern that etched his face made Sammy look at him, guiltily and Jack felt a twinge of sadness. It had been a long time but old habits die hard.

“No…sorry. I just remembered…I’ve been staying with friends on and off for a few months…I’ve been living at Emily’s for the last two months. I don’t have any groceries here. Lily will kill me if I don’t…”

“Not a problem.” They both turned to see Emily pulling things from the fridge and cabinets. Fresh things. “Tim and Mary went and got groceries for you guys earlier. You’re solid.”

Sammy nodded, somewhat surprised, and helped Jack sit down on the couch nearby before going back to the kitchen to grab some glasses. Ben helped Emily make some sandwiches and got a bag of chips from a bag on the counter while Sammy grabbed a jug of tea from the fridge and brought it over to the coffee table with the glasses. After he set the glasses down, poured tea into one, and handed it to Jack, he let himself collapse onto the couch next to him. Jack watched him, his left arm slung across his face, hair in a messy, nearly falling out ponytail, dark, ashy blonde hair a bit frizzled from the humidity, looking older and much more tired than he remembered. It had been a few years, but a few years shouldn’t have aged him like that. He felt a twinge of guilt knowing that a large part of it was from the worry and anxiety behind finding him. Sammy would never say, but he didn’t have to. Yet despite all that, Sammy still took his breath away. He was still the most attractive person he knew, and the warmth and little flip in his stomach from looking at his boyfriend was wonderful.

“I can feel you staring at me.” Jack smiled and poked at his boyfriend’s stomach through his jacket.

“You’ve aged.” Jack said honestly.

“Ouch.” Sammy moved his right arm over in a weak attempt to swat at Jack, but he managed to miss from less than three feet away, which made Jack laugh. Jack took his right arm and placed Sammy’s right hand in his left palm, palm side up. He began tracing the lines of the veins in his hand, making Sammy squirm from the slightly ticklish feel.

“I never said you hadn’t aged _well_.” Jack amended. “I like the longer hair. And you’ve gained weight. But in a good way.”

“It’s Rose’s.” both Jack and Sammy started a bit, forgetting that there were two other people in the apartment. “He eats at this diner called Rose’s a lot. We all do. It’s not exactly all health food.” Ben teased, watching them from across the table on the other couch. Emily was next to him, smiling.

“We’ll have to go sometime, when I’m a bit stronger.” Jack commented, keeping Sammy’s right hand in his left, and reaching over to grab a sandwich half from the plate that had been set at the center. He didn’t want to admit it, but a part of him was afraid to let go, in case this was all a lie. In case it was just another dream, another illusion.

“For sure man, Rose’s is the best. As Sammy can attest…and show.”

“Fuck you Ben.” Sammy muttered, shifting on the couch to be slumped against Jack, hand still in his, the exhaustion he’d been fighting over the last week finally overtaking him.

“Like I said, the weight looks good on you. You didn’t eat enough before.” Jack said, smiling “Are you gonna eat or are you gonna sleep?”

“Sl-eat.”

“Wise words. No wonder you became so popular. I’m amazed…”Jack began to joke, before dissolving into a fit of giggling as Sammy was now clearly asleep, his head propped up between Jack’s shoulder and the back of the wide, comfortable couch, his body leaning ever so slightly against his, glasses, the ones he always _insisted_ he didn’t need, askew. Emily laughed, Ben rolled his eyes and muttered ‘About time.’, and, as Jack sat back against the couch, looking at his new friends, the rain outside, battering against the window, and the feeling of life surrounding him, he decided that maybe King Falls really was, in a messed up way, fated.


	6. Late Night Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sammy doubts his worth, Jack gets exasperated, college make out sessions are mentioned.

* * *

 

_‘You’re still a fraud.’_

_‘He deserves better.’_

_‘You nearly gave up entirely, you could have been the reason he was stuck there forever.’_

_‘He probably was just lying out of pity before. He doesn’t love you anymore. He never did.’_

_‘Look at all the pain and anguish you caused you-‘_

“Why aren’t you in bed? It’s 4 am and you have the night off, you need to sleep too.” Sammy started from his deep thoughts and self-hatred, making him look up to see his boyfriend, his Jack, standing at the end of the hallway in the pajamas that hung loose on his body, concern etched deeply into his face. “Besides,” he started again, smiling “I’m cold and I need my space heater of a boyfriend to keep me warm.”

“Sorry. I’m just…I’ve been having trouble sleeping.” Sammy replied, sitting back against the couch and sighing. How would he tell Jack that he was thinking about how much he hated himself? How he felt like he wasn’t good enough for him? Like he was a failure?

“What’s wrong?” Jack walked over to the couch and slid onto it, next to him, taking one hand in his own, and eying Sammy with a deeper worry than before. “You’ve got that look on your face again.”

“What look?”

“Like you’re trying to figure out if you deserve to be alive.” Sammy winced. Jack was always the one that saw right through him. Better than Lily, better than anyone.

“I guess you could say that.” Jack inched more forward and put one of his arms, engulfed in the pajama top he had on, around Sammy’s shoulder and put his chin on his left shoulder, and sighed.

“You’re an incredibly talented radio show host who moved heaven and hell to get his crazy boyfriend back from a bizarre void that got contained within a weird building by a bunch of crazy scientists who wanted to use it as a weapon. That’s pretty badass if you ask me.”

“But I…”

“Almost gave up, I know. I get it.” Jack shifted his head to look at his boyfriend, messy long hair in a sloppy bun, two-day old stubble growth, and the pain of his question to the universe etched into his face. “But you didn’t. I’m here. You fought Him and you won. That’s pretty badass.” Jack reiterates, because he’ll be damned if the man he loves gets too far deep under this layer of self-hatred he’s experienced most of his life. Seeing Sammy, being able to touch him, after he was brought back from the Void, was a saving grace for him. He’d spent years imagining that moment, but nothing could have prepared him for when it happened.

“I…” Jack stopped him, hand that was still entangled with his, reaching up to cover his mouth. Sammy kissed the back of his hand before lowering both of their hands onto his lap.

“ I remember the first time I kissed you, I was so scared.” Jack began, looking out the living room window at the lights from the town in the distance. “It was a risky move on  my part. I didn’t know if you would be offended or it would be some awkward ‘Listen, I like you but…’ situation, and those are the _worst_.”

“If I remember right, _I_ was the first one to kiss _you_.” Sammy counters, leaning back against the couch, his other hand covering both of theirs.

“Mm, kissing me while shitfaced at a college party doesn’t count _Samuel_.” Jack teased, a smile forming on his lips from the memory.

“It was less of a kiss and more of a, as Lily later described, ‘Scene out of Alien with the facehuggers.’ .” Sammy corrected, and then groaned. They’d been so painfully oblivious to each other in college about how they felt about one another, it was embarrassing.

“Still. I didn’t know how’d you react. You might have been rightfully offended, you might have been…”

“Considering I made no move to push you off of me when you were practically eating my face off at…ow!” Jack took a pillow from the other side of him and gently smacked Sammy in the stomach, and both of them dissolved into laughter. “Rude.”

“Fuck you Sammy.” Jack muttered, repositioning himself so he was sitting on his legs on the couch next to him, before slinging his arm back over Sammy’s shoulders. His eyes refocused on the window in front of them, on King Falls, and he pondered their future. Would they stay there? Sammy seemed quite settled in the town, better. He didn’t want that to change. And it was a nice town, even if it did have a bunch of weird shit going on in it.

“I thought you might want to leave with Lily when we got you out of there.” Sammy blurts out so suddenly, Jack barely has time to blink in between the start and finish of that sentence.

“You what?”

“I thought…” Sammy took in a breath and sighed, unsure how to broach the topic. “I thought that…after all this time, I mean I took so long to get you back …”

“You thought I didn’t love you anymore?” Jack guessed, his heart breaking all over again. This man was going to be the end of him, he swore, with all his ridiculous ideas and notions about the world. “Sammy Stevens, you exasperate me.” Sammy looked at him, slightly hurt, and Jack sighed, his boyfriend’s doubt almost endearing if not exhausting. He couldn’t believe this man, this wonderful, hardworking, handsome, _infuriating_ man, doubted that he was worthy of love, doubted that Jack loved him. He knew it wasn’t that simple, he knew the anxiety and the depression made none of _anything_ simple, but his heart constantly broke for the man before him, for his Sammy. “Sammy…you’re the love of my life. You’re it for me. I’m not… I’m not ever not going to love you. You were a big part of how I survived the Void. Seeing and touching you, after years of barely existing and just hearing your voice through the Void was… God it was like coming home. That’s how I knew I was back. Not solid ground, not the rain falling on me, not the sound of other people, you.” He took his free hand from behind Sammy’s shoulders and made Sammy look at him. “ I love you.” He repeated. “I love you. I, Jack Wright, love you, Sammy Stevens. I always will, even when you exhaust me, even when I want to scream at you. Even when I’m stuck in some fucking Void other world by some psycho shadow creatures. I will always love you. The first time I saw you, I had the biggest crush ever, and I knew I had to know who you were. I’d determined to sit next to the hottest guy in that class, and I did.” Sammy felt a blush creep up his neck and into his cheeks. He didn’t know that that was what made Jack sit next to him that day, nearly ten years ago. “You’re my best friend and my soulmate, and you are the person I’m living for.”

“You’re getting awfully sappy Wright. Almost sounds like a marriage vow.” Sammy teased, although he would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it before. The way Jack was looking at him, wary but loving, as if he were the only thing that mattered in the world to him, made his heart skip a beat. It always had. He blushed. “What?”

“Nothing.” Jack replied, still staring at him. “I just love you.”

“I love you too.” Sammy leaned towards him, and Jack met him half way, one of a handful of kisses they’d had since Jack had gotten back. Physical intimacy was difficult for him right now, but he was feeling better, and the look of confusion and adoration on his boyfriend’s face was too much to pass up. Sammy had been holding back, not wanting to push the limits of what Jack may or may not be comfortable with, and they’d been fine so far. As Jack moved closer to him, practically on top of Sammy now, he realized how much he missed this. How much he truly missed them, missed the physical contact. It wasn’t always related to sex, it often wasn’t, but this closeness, skin on skin, the idea of a question where one of them started and the other stopped, it was something he hadn’t realized he’d been so starved for until then, and he went after it like a parched land soaks up water. After a couple of minutes of acting ever so slightly like randy teenagers, Sammy stopped them, taking in a long breath and moving Jack so he could get up. Seeing the look of confusion and a bit of hurt on his boyfriend’s face, Sammy laughed and held out a hand. “Come on. Time for bed.”

“But I…oh.” Jack saw the look on his face, that adorable, ridiculous, too much for his own good face and knew that Sammy didn’t entirely mean sleep was going to happen once they got back to their room, and let Sammy help him up from the couch before trailing behind him down the hallway.

‘ _This is my husband, Sammy._ ’ The sentence popped up in his head as Sammy closed the door to the bedroom behind them, ‘ _I, Jack Wright, take you, Sammy Stevens…_ ’ yeah, that sounded….that sounded…

As they fell into the bed together, Jack let one more thought pass through his mind as Sammy started to kiss his collarbone. ‘ _That sounded amazing._ ’


	7. Punching Mayors and Musical Mayhem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack, Sammy, and Ben talk about Sammy punching the mayor, werewolves, and Sammy's musical episode.

* * *

 

“I did NOT punch the mayor during the Bass Tournament! I punched him during the ribbon cutting ceremony.” Sammy huffed, sitting back in his chair at the station, glaring at Ben who was seated across from him, laughing.

“You were told to go to anger management classes.” Ben quipped.

“I was no-“

“Sounds an awful lot like the Chicago incident.” Jack pipes up, his face a study in innocence.

“Et tu Jack?” Sammy feigned hurt, which made Jack roll his eyes and Ben perk up.

“Chicago incident?” Ben asked, suddenly more eager than Sammy had ever seen him, which was saying something.

“Jack…” Sammy warned, eying his boyfriend warily. Jack grinned that impish grin that had made Sammy’s heart flutter at the beginning.

“Sammy…” Jack replied, grin still plastered on his face, and he hated himself for the little flutter he felt in his heart just then. Sometimes having his boyfriend back felt unreal, but he sure wasn’t going to complain about it.

“You guys are seriously going to give me cavities. Please tone it down, I don’t think Dr. Krissler will be happy if she has to do fillings on _all_ of my teeth.” Ben interrupted, grinning. Sammy blinked and scowled at his best friend, making Jack laugh again. “For those of you listening, it is now Sammy who has just invented a new shade of red, and while I won’t be taking a photo, send me a picture of something red and I’ll tell you if it’s at his level…”

“So, Chicago…”

“Jack!”

“Yes, Chicago.”

“Ben!”

“We were there to do a guest appearance on some other show, a bigwig show with millions of listeners…”

“Jack.”

“And this bigwig shock jock made some lewd comment about me. Like, even I was offended, and I usually take this shit with a grain of salt. A lot of people liked to make comments about me or the both of us, they liked to imply that we were dating a lot, which… “ Jack made a hand gesture between him and Sammy and shrugged “I mean they weren’t wrong, but we weren’t telling anyone and it was none of their business. And for all of the Shotgun rhetoric of being kind of a massive asshole and dropping calls from people who weren’t interesting…” Sammy winced at the memory, and Jack reached across the table and took his hand in his. “Which of course was all an act, as we all know Sammy isn’t that person. Not really. For all of that, Sammy did not take people harassing his people lightly.”

“What happened?” Ben asked, leaning in.

“Let’s just say the guy was bleeding from the nose and cowering in a corner by the time we were able to get in the booth and we ended up having to pay for new equipment for the station…” Jack was tactful about it. He decided not to mention the police report or the fact that the guy probably would have been hit unconscious if he hadn’t shouted at Sammy through the headset that the asshole wasn’t worth it.

“Anger management classes?” Ben asked, a bit surprised.

“Yup.”

“The guy was a prick and everyone knew it. Last I heard his show got taken off the air because he got drunk and was arrested for public indecency.” Sammy added, blushing from his neck to his ears.

“My hero.” Jack smiled, squeezing Sammy’s hand and getting a small smile in return.

“Anyway…” Sammy started again, shifting papers around on the table and trying to find anything to change the subject.

“Did Sammy ever vomit live on air?” Ben asked, his glee over getting a wealth of knowledge about his best friend’s past right before him.

“Did he do that on this show?” Jack countered, trying not to laugh.

“Yeah, like a year and a half ago. This lady who runs this weird food truck…”

“Ben Arnold you finish that sentence and I will tell your mother what you told me about that one Christmas…”

“Alright folks, we’re gonna take a quick pause for the cause and we will be right back.” Ben hit the button for the ad, and Sammy laughed, leaning back in his chair, face a picture in smugness. “Well, did he?” Ben continued while the ad was playing.

“He came in extremely hungover once, and threw up on a guest because they were playing a really loud instrument and it made his hangover even worse. I tried to convince him not to do the show, but he looked at me right in the eyes, and said ‘Alright then Dad, I didn’t realized I was grounded. Punish me later, but I’mma roll.’ Right before he walked right into the island in our kitchen.”

“I did not!” Sammy exclaimed, trying to swat him from five feet away.

“You did too. I had to drive you to the station and made up some bullshit story about how you called me from some club and had me pick you up for the show but you were still massively hungover so no one asked why we arrived together.” Ben cackled and Sammy felt his eyes roll into his head. “ Then, right in the middle of this poor person’s solo, Sammy turns, and projectile vomits , hitting this person, their instrument, and…”

“And we’re back folks. It’s the Sammy and Ben show with our producer Jack reluctantly coming up to the mic because his boyfriend is impossible to deal with, his own words. That’s King Falls AM, 660 on the radio dial…” Sammy’s smooth transition from embarrassed goofball to professional radio host, combined with a mischievous look he was giving Jack as he and Ben started bickering once more made Jack’s heart flutter.

“Well I guess that would explain…some things…” Ben looked towards him, eyes pleading. Jack blinked and shook his head a bit. “You with us Jack?” Ben inquired, a bit of worry etched into his features. He noticed that Sammy too was eyeing him with deep concern, and he realized that they thought he’d been having an absence and blushed.

“Sorry, what’s the topic?”

“The werewolves are back and trying to impregnate another one of my bitches!” Archie Simmons’ voice came through the speaker they used for the callers and Jack had to stop himself from laughing. “ Which is why there’s been break ins at the pet stores, obviously.”

“Oh obviously.” Jack agreed, making the other two groan.

“Thank you! Finally someone who agrees with me. Sammy, I like your man better, no offence.” They could hear commotion in the background, barking and a swish and click of a sliding door opening and closing.

“None taken. I like him a lot better than me as well.” Sammy added, winking at Jack and smiling when Jack glared at him.

“I like Sammy just fine.” Jack replied. “But I am the more reasonable of the two of us so…”

“That’s what I’m sayin! Sammy, your other half has a wide mind.” Ben pushes away from his mic, laughter bubbling out of him uncontrollably at Archie’s choice of words, and Jack is laughing as well. Sammy just wants to disappear.

“That he does Archie. Thank you for your call.” Sammy says into the mic, flipping both Jack and Ben off, making them laugh harder. “While I am continuously tortured by the love of my life and my scheming best friend, the lines are open folks, so call us with your thoughts on werewolves, pet stores, or whatever’s clever.” Jack smiled and rolled his chair over to Sammy, quickly kissing him on the cheek before grabbing his mug of coffee from in front of him and sliding back over to his mic, sticking his tongue out at him, who stuck his own tongue out.

“Alright kids, play fair.” Ben quipped.

“Alright, _Dad_.” Sammy and Jack said at the same time, cackling.

“Hey Jack, wanna hear about that time Sammy got cursed and heard everyone singing during Christmas, right out of some cheesy musical?” Ben countered, dodging the pen Sammy threw at him from across the table.

“Oh yes please.”

It was going to be a _long_ night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are lovely.


	8. Pillow Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sammy and Jack talk in bed when they can't sleep. Lily is staying at their house. The walls are really thin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just thought we could use something light and cute right now.

* * *

 

It’d been a year since Jack returned, and everything, for the most part, went back to normal.

Well…as normal as things can be in King Falls.

Jack became a producer at the station, and Ben became a full-time co-host of the show. There was talk about a new project at the station, although it wasn’t clear what was going to happen. But out of nowhere, Lily called them and asked if she could stay at their house for a bit while she worked on a ‘business’ thing in town. When they asked her what was up during lunch the day she arrived back in town, she leaned back in the booth they were sitting in at Rose’s Diner, looked at them, and smirked.

“It’s a surprise, you’ll see.”

That had been two days ago, and no real follow up beyond Jack swearing he saw Lily driving down the road that went to the station when he was going there to drop something off, but the car she drove was common in the town, so he said he couldn’t be sure, he hadn’t seen the driver. It was 11 pm, and both Sammy and Jack were sleeping before they had to go into work.

Or they were trying to.

“Should we get her a cake?” Sammy asked the dark room. He knew Jack was at least somewhat awake, he could tell by the way his body felt next to him. But he wasn’t sure if he’d respond. “A little cake in like, the shape of an On Air sign or maybe even a microphone. Of course that second one could go wrong, it could just look like a dick…”

“Sammy, love, shut the fuck up and sleep. We have to be at the station earlier than normal.” Jack mumbled from his side of the bed, making Sammy laugh.

“So dick shaped cake then. Got it.”

“Sammy.”

“Jack.”

“Fuck you.”

“Not right now dear, I’m trying to plan a cake for your sister.” Sammy put his hands up just in time to catch the pillow Jack catapulted his way, taking it and putting it behind his head. “Thanks.”

“I hate you.”

“You love me.” Jack groaned and shifted in the dark, turning to face Sammy, scooting closer, his head on part of his shoulder, and putting an arm over his stomach. Tracing patterns into the side of Sammy’s torso, through the King Falls Library shirt Emily had gotten him for his birthday, Jack couldn’t help but smile. The two people he loved most were under the same roof again, and on good terms with each other. He was doing well, his seizures and absences having subsided considerably, and he and Sammy were doing good. Better than good, they were doing great. They weren’t hiding, Sammy was more comfortable with himself. They’d even considered more…committed relationship things. They’d already gotten a house together, just down the street from Emily’s place, on a quiet hillside about half an hour away from the station. But there were more serious things they’d been talking about. Like getting a dog and…marriage.

“ I do.” Jack replied, feeling Sammy’s arm tighten around him, Sammy’s hand on his back. “More than anything.”

“We’re turning into a sappy old couple.” Sammy commented, taking in the calm of Jack being close, his once prominent dislike of the darkness having faded.

“We’ve been a sappy old couple for awhile now. We just didn’t want to admit it.” Jack countered.

“So what will that make us when we’re old? A sappy ancient couple?”

“Yes.” Jack looked at the clock and groaned. “ We need to get up in an hour if we both  want to shower before we go into the station.”

“It’s not even midnight yet.” Sammy argued, loathing the idea of getting out of bed and going out into the cold winter’s night. Winter in King Falls had been particularly cold this year and Sammy half wondered if it was Gwendolyn the Racist Witch getting payback for being shunned from the town. Jack had a hard time believing Sammy and Ben about Gwendolyn, but they’d played him tapes and pointed out that of all the things in the world he’d be skeptical about, with what he’d seen over the years, him drawing the line at witches seemed a bit out there. Jack admitted to the logic, but had thankfully not had to deal with her himself. Sammy would be damned if he let Gwendolyn try any of her bullshit on him or Jack.

“It takes us almost 40 minutes to get to the station from this place.” Jack shot back, although the conviction in his voice was faltering.

“20 more minutes.” Sammy begged, pulling Jack in closer. Jack had to stifle a laugh before he responded.

“ Fine, 20 more minutes.”

“What shall we do?”

“What do you mean, what shall we do? Sleep? Stay here? What is there to do?” Jack didn’t have to see his boyfriend to know he was now making one of those god awfully cheesy eyebrow raising suggestive faces, he just sensed it, and he wondered if they’d always been this corny as well.

“Well we could…do a bit of the old in-out, in-out.” Jack had to hide his face in Sammy’s chest to quell the laughter rising within him. How was this man real? “Some aggressive cuddling.”

“Oh my god.”

“Bit of bedroom rodeo.”

“Jesus…”

“Corking the onion.”

“Please stop.”

“Dipping the wick.”

“Where the hell do you get these?”

“Bit of the horizontal tango.”

“Sammy I swear to God…”

“Launching the meat missile…”

“OH MY GOD, I CAN _HEAR_ YOU GUYS! The walls are thin!” Lily shouted from the room behind them. “Jack, please tell your man to shut the fuck up so I can sleep!”

“Or we could do a bit of…negotiating the forest chasm.” Sammy said extra loud, followed by the sound of Lily pretending to wretch, and then silence.

“I can’t believe you right now.” Jack commented, shaking a bit with laughter. His boyfriend was ridiculous but he wouldn’t have it any other way. “Come on pervert, let’s get up.” He moved to get out of bed, only to have one of his arms grabbed by Sammy in the darkness.

“No, bed. Ten more minutes.” Jack turned on the lamp that was on his nightstand, and twisted to look back at his boyfriend, who was now giving him the most pathetic puppy-dog face on the planet.

“Sammy…”

“Jack…”

“Come on, we’ve got a big show tonight. We got an interview with the new cemetery owner, Ron is gonna call in and talk about the tournament…”

“Five more minutes?”

“We could always… shower together to save time and…water.” Jack suggested, giving Sammy a cheesy suggestive look himself. Sammy raised his eyebrows and Jack grinned. “Come on, we have a lot of stuff to…do before we go to the station.”

Sammy had never gotten out of bed faster in his life.


	9. We're Here Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack dreams of the Void, Sammy's old apartment in Los Angeles, and the future.

* * *

 

Jack awoke suddenly, somehow felt younger than he had earlier in the day. And…wait, this wasn’t Sammy’s apartment in King Falls, this was his apartment in L.A. . A feeling of fear ran through him as he saw the familiar surroundings. He’d been there many times before they moved and in his time in the void, with the latter being a way of torturing him, a way of showing him what he no longer had.

The Void mocking him with one of his favorite memories.

The Void mocking him with the day Sammy had, almost like a child, asked him if they were in a relationship or if this was just a friends with benefits deal for him.

The day that Sammy and Jack became, unofficially, officially a couple.

He’d remembered it so well, in part for how ridiculous it had been, but also how elated he had felt to know that their whole relationship had indeed been a relationship. Maybe not at the beginning, but he was not alone in feeling what he did either.

It had been …enlightening.

After a long day at the station, they’d come up with some bullshit reason to avoid going to dinner with Lily and the two station managers, something about going over a new possible segment for Sammy to do on the show he and Lily were in, and they’d all accepted it, as it was something being considered.

It hadn’t been a _total_ lie, they were going to talk about the segment.

Eventually.

It was just… Sammy had pushed Jack against the door as soon as it had closed, and Sammy was doing that one thing to Jack’s neck with his mouth that just made Jack’s mind blank out and…

They had made it to his bedroom, barely, and there was Sammy on the bed, waiting for him, his favorite site in the entire world, and the eagerness and widened pupil’s in Sammy’s eyes , all because of him, made Jack’s heart stop sometimes. Sammy raised himself up with his elbows, eying Jack curiously.

“You gonna join me here Wright or am I just going to have to deal with this myself?” Jack’s mind went to many dirty places at that suggestion, but he shook his head.

“Yes, I am going to join you Stevens. Just appreciating the view.” Jack laughed at Sammy’s eyeroll, knowing his corniness would get a response. Sammy yelped when Jack jumped onto the bed, right on top of him. Jack laughed and grabbed Sammy’s arms as they attempted to swat at him. He pinned his arms to the bed, his legs on either side of Sammy’s thighs, and looked at him, enjoying the sight of his lover looking unworried and relaxed, unlike how he’d been quite a lot recently. The show had been getting more and more popular and it was taking its toll on Sammy and Lily’s sense of self. They told themselves it was worth it, and he hoped it was. He lowered his head down and kissed him, hard, causing Sammy to struggle to meet him, his body shifting upwards in an attempt to get closer, making Jack sigh happily. Breaking free, Jack looked at him again and paused, seeing Sammy’s expression shift ever so slightly to one of concern. He let go of Sammy’s arms and sat up, causing Sammy’s face to shift to one of confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“You had a look on your face. Like you were worried about something. Tell me what’s up.”

“It’s nothing…”

“Sammy…”

“Jack…”

“Sammy, please tell me. I thought…I thought we were best friends.” Sammy sighed and pulled himself up more, his legs sliding under Jack’s fairly easily.

“It’s…I feel silly. It’s nothing.”

“No, if something is bothering you it is not silly, it is important. Tell me what is wrong.”

“Are we…is this… are we in a relationship? Or is this just a friends with benefits sort of thing? Because if it is, I mean…that’s fine but I…” Sammy trailed off, his cheeks flushing, clearly embarrassed.

“You what Sammy?” Jack felt dread fill him. Was Sammy saying he wanted them to stop? Did Sammy know that Jack had feelings for him? Was he trying to let him down easy?

“Listen, this is really embarrassing. I don’t want our friendship to be ruined over this but…I think I’m…Jesus I sound like a teenager.” Sammy ran his hands over his face and sighed. “ Listen, Jack, I have feelings for you beyond fooling around, and if you don’t feel the same way, I…” Jack cut Sammy off, pulling him in for another kiss, a bit overwhelmed by what he was hearing. So Sammy did feel something as well, Jack wasn’t the only one. This had to be a miracle.

“Sammy, you have no idea.” Jack let out as soon as they broke apart. He leaned his forehead against Sammy’s and smiled. “Yeah, I feel the same way.”

“Good.” Sammy replied, breathless. “Yeah. Good.”

The living room Jack had been in shifted colors, from bright with sunlight to dark of night, and Jack could feel his heart plummet.

Was his rescue a dream? Did he make it all up to cope with never being free again? Never seeing Sammy again? Seeing Lily? Being with the living?

“Jack.” He could hear Sammy’s voice in the distance but he panicked. This was scarily the same as the many mind games the Shadow Maker would play with him to hurt him. “Jack.” The voice was louder, and sounded different now. Worried. “JACK!”

Jack’s eyes flew open once again and he sat up like a bolt, hearing an ‘oof!’ and suddenly feeling a bit of pain near his forehead. He looked around and recognized the dimly lit room as being the bedroom in Sammy’s apartment. But not the one in L.A., the one in King Falls. He looked to his left to see Sammy rubbing his forehead and squinting, and Jack realized he must have accidentally headbutted him when he woke up.

“Sammy! I…I’m sorry. I…”

“It’s fine. Really. Are you okay? You were talking in your sleep.” Sammy’s look of concern made Jack want to apologize again, but he refrained. He knew Sammy wouldn’t take it, he wouldn’t have thought it necessary.

“I…had a weird dream.” Jack admitted. “And a part of me…I guess a part of me thought that the dream was one of the mind games that the Shadow Maker played on me back in the Void, and that I was still there…and I just…”

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s alright.” Sammy took his hand in his own and smiled at him, although the concern hadn’t left his face. “You’re here, you’re with me.”

“I dreamed that I was back in your apartment in L.A..” Jack admitted. “And in my dream it felt strange because I knew you were in King Falls. Or I thought you were. And I remembered that day were we kind of admitted we weren’t just friends with benefits. We were in a relationship. And it was a good memory, but that happened to me so much in the Void. My mind got played like a whistle and it would play tricks…” Jack sees the look on Sammy’s face, the dim light of the lamp making it easier to look around, and felt guilty. “I’m sorry. I shou…”

“No, don’t be sorry. I should be the one that’s sorry. I didn’t believe you and then…”

“Don’t. Please. I know it’s fruitless to ask you to stop beating yourself up over this, but this was not your fault. And you got me back. I don’t care how long it took, I don’t care that you felt beaten down and almost gave up. You still got me back.” Jack scooted closer to Sammy on the bed and pulled him in closer, Sammy’s head coming to rest on his left shoulder. “We’re here now. Together. We’re going to be okay.”

“You really think so?”

“Yes.” They sat there in silence for several minutes, appreciating the fact that they could, and Jack almost wished they could just stay like that forever.

“I love you.” Sammy said, breaking the silence with something that still made Jack’s heart flutter.

“I know.” Jack smiled when he felt the vibrations of Sammy’s laughter through his shoulder and chest.

“A Star Wars reference? Really?”

“You love it.”

“I love you.”

“I…”

“Know, yes. I get it.” Sammy pulled his head up from Jack’s shoulder and took his free hand in one of his own. “ Hey Jack…”

“Yes Sammy?”

“There’s this house… it’s just down the street from Emily’s, and it’s for sale…” Even in the dimness of the room, Jack could tell that Sammy was blushing. “And it’s nice. It’s not as big as our place in Seattle, but that was kind of ridiculous. Emily’s only a two-minute walk away and I know you two have bonded.” Jack felt the smile creep onto his face. Dear god, Sammy wanted to buy a house with him again. “And it really is a nice place. Three-bedroom, two bath, a nice little kitchen…it would be perfect for…” Jack felt his heart beating faster, and his own blush was creeping its way up his cheeks. Sammy wanted to settle down. For good. With him. In this not-so-sleepy, weird ass town.

“Perfect for…what Sammy?” Sammy looked up at him, nervous.

“Perfect for…maybe having a…family.” Jack felt slightly overwhelmed by how much he loved the man next to him, and bit his bottom lip, trying not to giggle like a high schooler.

“Ohhhh. Sammy Stevens has a crrrussssh.” Jack teased, tickling Sammy’s sides. “Sammy has a cru-ush.”

“Jack…Jack stop!” Sammy laughed, as he continued to tickle him more.

“You want to daaate me, you want to kiss me. You…” Sammy’s free hand shot up and pulled Jack into a kiss, catching him entirely off guard. When they finally parted, Jack sighed happily. “What was I saying?”

“ ‘Yes, Sammy, I would love to get a house with you and settle down in this weird ass little town.’” Sammy offered.

“Yes, Sammy, I would love to get a house with you and settle down in this weird ass little town.” Jack repeated, grinning.

When they fell asleep again that night, much to Jack’s surprise, he dreamed of family picnics, and hearing a little kid run to Sammy, calling him ‘Dad’.


	10. Wedding Bells and Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is free. He and Lily have a talk. His and Sammy's wedding plans are underway.

 

* * *

 

Jack could hear the beeping of the hospital equipment before he opened his eyes.

He thought he’d been dreaming earlier, when the void tore apart and suddenly he and dozens of other people were in a sharp, cold looking room, like something out of a spy movie. The bad guy’s secret lab. There were alarms blaring in the distance and he felt the ground shake, there was screaming and yelling outside the room, and then…

Then the door to the room opened, and a spray of people, about ten of them, some with guns or shotguns, shovels, and other odds and ends. He sees Lily and he feels elation flow through him, and then…then he sees him.

Sammy.

Sammy, the man he ran away with.

Sammy, the man he fell in love with in college and felt a bit of hope any time one of Sammy’s potential boyfriends became an ex.

Sammy, the man he’d become engaged to less than a month before his obsession with King Falls began.

Sammy, the love of his life.

Sammy spotted him less than a second later and, just like a cliché scene out of a cliché romance film, they ran for each other like it was the only thing that would keep them alive.

The last thing Jack remembers before passing out is being in Sammy’s arms, with his fiancé muttering that he loved him and he was sorry, and his sister enveloping them both, saying something along the lines of how much she fucking hated and loved them at the same time. And then, once again, darkness.

He opened his eyes, fully awake now, and the first thing he thought to say was of course…

“He’s sleeping in an armchair that he dragged next to the bed less than two feet away from you.” Lily replied, sounding beyond exhausted. Jack, after looking to his left, feeling a hand and an arm on his left arm and making sure Sammy was there, looked to his right and saw his sister, exhausted, but relieved, sitting in a hospital chair with her feet on the middle of the bed, a magazine in her lap. “The hospital people tried to kick him out but…” Lily’s eyes softened, and then went through a cycle of emotion from fondness, to confusion, to hurt and anger, and then back to fondness. “They can’t exactly kick out your older sister and your fiancé without making themselves look like assholes now can they?”

Jack’s heart beat faster, making the monitor he was attached to beep faster, and Lily just shook her head.

“Lily…I…”

“It’s fine Jack, really. I…” a sad expression crossed her face once again at whatever thing she was remembering, and Jack somehow understood she was remembering the day they told her they were leaving. “I didn’t really react well to…any of it did I? You and Sammy getting together, you guys telling me you were leaving to start a new show…”

“We kind of sprung it on you. We had all these ideas to make it bi…” Lily waved her hand, motioning him to stop.

“The past is the past as far as I’m concerned. I had a lot of faults I didn’t want to acknowledge, so did Sammy. We  have talked and…it’s alright. We need to all move on. I just have one question, one I think I already know the answer to.”

“What is it? “

“I can understand Sammy not telling me about the engagement but…I mean we started talking again right around when it happened and…I guess I just wanted to know why you didn’t tell me. I …you’re my little brother.”

“And you’re the older sister who hates my fiancé. I didn’t think you’d want to hear about it. I didn’t really want a re-hashing all the problems Sammy had. I didn’t want to get into the same argument again.” Jack looked back to Sammy, who’d barely shifted in the chair, although he could swear he’d somehow gotten closer.

“I …I don’t hate him.” Lily started, wincing, because even she knew how unintentionally fake that sounded. “He just infuriates me sometimes. When you guys got together, I didn’t… when I got mad, it wasn’t really because of Sammy’s difficult past it was because I was …I got worried that we weren’t a we anymore. It wasn’t Sammy, Lily, and Jack anymore, it was Sammy and Jack, and also Lily…”

“You were the only one who knew about us.”

“I know. I know, it’s ridiculous and most of it was in my head. I just didn’t want you guys to…leave me.” Jack frowned and then looked extremely guilty. “Don’t. Don’t start.”

“I mean…we did leave you.”

“You offered for me to come with you.”

“You wouldn’t have liked being a shock jock.”

“I would have liked being there with you guys. Maybe I could have done another show on the station…”

 “What happened to ‘leaving the past behind’?” Jack teased. Lily rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue at him. “Real mature. Mid-thirties woman sticks tongue out at brother.”

“Man, I don’t know how to tell you this right now but you’re…” Lily stopped herself and bit her lip. “I was about to be a real ass with something really sensitive.”

“What? What is it?”

“How long you’ve been gone.” Jack blinked and then looked from his sister to his fiancé, finally noticing the differences in their appearances since he last saw them. Lines of age, a crease here and there on Lily’s face, although she was still beautiful, still vibrant, still looked like she could easily hand him his ass in a fight. He saw a sparkling of grey in her dark red hair, and indeed she had aged a bit. But not by much. Sammy was harder to tell, his face was on the bed facing the other way, but his hair…his hair was longer, thrown up in a ponytail, with a few streaks of grey of his own in his hair. He looked more tired, his shoulders sagged a bit. He’d gained a bit of weight, but not by much.

“I’m almost afraid to ask.”

“You’ve been gone for three years and five months.” Jack sucked in a breath and then he felt nauseated. Time didn’t exist in the Void. He knew he’d been gone a long time, but over three years?

“Where are we? Which hospital?” Jack asked suddenly, his mind whirling.

“Big Pines Memorial.” Lily replied, leaning back into the position she’d been in before.

“Where is that?”

“Big Pines. About twenty minutes east of King Falls.” Jack pushed himself up suddenly, panicked. The hospital machines whirred and beeped wildly. He heard a grumbling noise to his left and saw that Sammy had been jerked awake, rubbing at his eyes and looking profoundly confused. He blinked a few more times and then realized Jack was awake and sitting up.

“Jack! Jack you’re awake, thank god. We were worried for awhile that…”

“We can’t be here. You can’t be here. King Falls…the shadows. The void they…”

“Are gone. Trapped. Can’t get to us anymore.” Sammy supplied, getting up from his chair and nudging Jack over a bit so he could lay on the bed with him. Jack moved without thinking, the action being one they’d done thousands of times before and felt better now that he could feel his fiancé’s heartbeat through the side of his chest. Lily smiled, reached over, and pat his leg.

“What do you mean?”

“We closed the door, so to speak. The vessel was freed and that was the main way they were getting through and causing problems.” Sammy started, his left arm gently reaching across Jack’s abdomen, his hand resting on the other side.

“And we blew up a building.” Lily added, sounding so casual she might have been talking about the fucking weather.

“You blew up a building? A vessel was freed? What?” Jack felt more confused than ever, but he was tired. He was tired and he had the love of his life in his arms and his sister not three feet away, heels of her boots gently pressed against his right leg. Lily sighed as she flipped another page, studied it, and then brought her phone out to take a picture of the page, before tossing the magazine on the bed and reaching from another one on the table nearby. Squinting in the dim light of the room, Jack was able to see the title of the magazine, “GWM” and two men on the cover in formal dress. He looked up to see Lily smiling at him.

“What? There’s a wedding to plan. I want my little brother and his weirdo fiancé to have the best wedding possible.” Lily commented, turning back to the magazine with an air of fake casualty meant to get a reaction.

“Fuck you Lily.” Sammy muttered from his spot on the bed, drifting back off to sleep.

“Love you too.” Came her reply. “Indoor or outdoor wedding?”

“Outdoor.” Jack and Sammy spoke at the same time and Lily laughed, hard.

Jack had been tired just seconds before, but now, with his two favorite people in this or any other world nearby, his and Sammy’s wedding plans starting, and the danger gone, he was wide awake.

He wanted to cherish as many of these moments as he could, as he knew one never knows what will happen.


	11. And They Endure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two months after the craziest night in King Falls history, the station is rebuilt, and the Sammy and Ben show has started again. Things aren't perfect, but they are enduring. 
> 
> SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 75!

* * *

 

Things were not perfect in King Falls. Not in the last couple of months, or years. Perhaps things had never been perfect.

“Hello folks, this is…this is the first broadcast of the Sammy and Ben Show in…well a long time. As you all may know, the station got destroyed two months ago, and it has just now been rebuilt, thanks to Merv and some generous donations from you, the listening public. For those of you who have been inquiring, Chet is doing much better and will be returning to his usual show in about two weeks. But worry not, those of you who have gotten used to listening to Lily from ten to two, because she will be taking the time slot right after ours after Chet’s return.” Sammy shuffled the papers in front of him and looked up, across the table at Ben who was all ready to take up the next segment, knowing Sammy would have trouble talking about that night.

“Ron Begley would also like our listeners to know that he is still taking donations for the Cecil Sheffield memorial down at Lake Hatchenhaw.” Ben continued, smiling sadly at Sammy. “We have a big schedule for tonight’s returning episode folks, starting with some of the newest results from the polls of the emergency mayoral election. As many of you know, former mayor Steven Grisham has been arrested by the FBI on charges of fraud, kidnapping, and money laundering. Something that I am sure many of us saw coming.” Ben rolled his eyes at Sammy, eliciting an actual smile “ Plus, we have a new crew member here at the station. Producer extraordinaire, Lilly’s brother, Sammy’s fiancé, and the most wonderfully sarcastic person _I_ have ever met, Jack Wright.” Ben swiveled his chair slightly to the right of Sammy, smiling at the man with copper brown hair and brilliant blue eyes, holding a clipboard and rolling his eyes. “Why don’t you say hi to the listeners Jack?”

“Hi to the listeners Jack.” Jack repeated, leaning across Sammy to talk into his mic, smirking at Ben the entire time, his eyes gleaming with mischief despite the cast still encompassing his right arm. He was charming, very charming, and Ben had to admit, he got why Sammy fell for the guy, hard.

“Funny.” Ben replied, rolling his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that night. While Sammy and Jack were obviously different people, he saw so much of them in each other. Mannerisms they must have picked up from each over in the 15 years they’d known each other. Watching the two of them together was something to behold. While they argued like normal couples, they were also ridiculously in sync, causing several Pacific Rim jokes to be made by Ben, and they were so obviously in love that sometimes even the most ridiculous moments, eating at Rose’s, going for walks or on a boat at Lake Hatchenhaw, going to movies, whichever, felt like he and Emily were intruding on an intimate moment. Of course, as Emily had pointed out to him when he’d brought it up to her the previous morning, they’d been together for over ten years. Secret relationship or not, they had had the time to come together in the way they saw now.

“Annnd we have lost Ben folks. Probably day dreaming about a certain…” Ben blinked several times, realizing both Sammy and Jack were staring at him from across the table, both with looks of concern mixed with amusement.

“But it’s night time. How can he day dream during the night Sammy?” Jack asked, his face a study in fake innocence.

“Well that would be just dreaming now wouldn’t it Jack?” Sammy shot back, looking at his fiancé with a look that Ben was sure was supposed to be annoyance but was more ‘I love you you asshole’ than ‘I want to dump your water on you.’.

“Not really. Since when you day dream you’re not really asleep so…”

“Alright guys, alright, we get it.” Ben interrupted, sensing another long session of bickering between the two. “Let’s not get too hasty here.”

“Sammy knows stuff about being hasty.” Jack interrupted, sticking his tongue out at his fiancé who rolled his eyes.

“Says the guy who once decided to drunk serenade me with ‘Marry Me’ at a karaoke bar while we were in college.”

“Says the guy who once picked up the phone while we were in the middle of something rather intimate and…”

“Says the guy who tried to sucker punch Doyle because you thought he was trying to insult Emily when really he was just high. As usual.”

“Says the guy who once dressed up as Katy Perry in California Gurls because ‘Why not Jack, everyone will be dressed silly anyways.’.”

“Says the guy who proposed to me in the middle of a crowded hiking spot in Washington by saying, rather loudly ‘Hey, wanna do the do after we say I do?’”

“That was a joke proposal and you know it. I proposed to you for real the next day.”

“I proposed to you.”

“Guys…” Ben interjected, seeing the phone lines light up on their new system.

“I proposed first…”

“You did not, not seriously!”

“Guys.”

“Yeah well you ran out of the house the other day while cooking lunch because you heard the fu-freaking ice cream van, which ended up just being Creepy Carl. Again.” Jack said, his annoyance becoming palpable.

“Guys…”

“You shot a shadow portal with a ray gun, right where the Shadowmaker’s head would be.” Sammy retorted.

“Yeah because one of their goons was trying to make it through the portal and get you because you challenged them at the Gate and tried to enter just to…” Jack trailed off, his expression changing from annoyance to sadness and concern. “I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have…”

“No, I’m sorry, I…”

“Alright folks, time to pay some bills!” Ben piped up, reaching over and pressing the button to switch to a commercial.

“I love you.” Sammy whispered, drawing Jack in closer for a side hug. “Don’t ever disappear on me again.”

“I won’t. I…for the six hundredth time, I promise, never again.” Jack replied, resting his head on Sammy’s shoulder.

“Do you guys need a break? I can take over for a while if…” Ben offered, looking at the schedule on his laptop and trying to decide what he could potentially do alone. Jack was meticulous with his schedule and Ben had to admit, he was impressed.

“No. Sorry. We didn’t mean to…” Sammy started. Ben waved a hand and wrote a couple things down on a notebook to his right.

“It’s fine. Don’t even worry. You guys good to go?” Both of the men sitting across from him nodded, in sync, and Ben smiled. He leaned back into the mic and began to talk once again. “Folks you are missing some tooth rotting fluff here at the station. They just nodded at me in sync and were making lovey dovey eyes at each other during break…”

“Ben!” Jack and Sammy exclaimed, making Ben burst out laughing.

“As you can see King Falls, our honorary dads are doing well…” Ben continued to laugh at the dagger eyes being shot at him, but saw the smiles on their faces. “If either Sammy or Jack dad voice you during the show, I’ll make sure to give you a shout out on Twitter and start a ‘Jack and Sammy’s Kids’ list here at the station. Coming up soon we have Troy calling in to talk about his campaign and in the second hour, we have Rose coming in to discuss fourth of July specials at the diner.”

Things were not perfect, but at the station, in King Falls, the people endured.


	12. Insecurities and the Rest of Their Lives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Jack is back from the void, after he is released from the hospital, Lily, Sammy, and himself go back to Sammy's apartment, and Jack notices Sammy is acting...off.

* * *

 

Jack was exhausted, which…well, considering he’d been trapped in a void, literally, for the last 3 years and seven months, was understandable. Jack was exhausted, and haunted, and hungry, and thirsty, and just so…overwhelmed to be back in the physical world, it was insane. He’d spent so long, even 3 years and seven months felt more like an eternity in the void, missing his sister, missing his life, missing food and drinks and every other thing. Missing Sammy. God, he missed his fiancé more than he thought was possible. He could feel when Sammy arrived in King Falls, the tug of a presence he knew better than he knew his own making him take notice, to try and get a glimpse into the real world somehow. And then he heard it, in the distance, like a taunt, because that’s what He would do to them, the sounds of Sammy’s first broadcast in King Falls. It managed to elate and deflate him at the same time because no, no Sammy shouldn’t be there. King Falls was dangerous. But of course, Sammy came. Of course, he came to try and find him, to get him back. The following years had been torture in a sense. He could hear Sammy sometimes, through the broadcasts. Occasionally he’d see him at his apartment, alone and staring at Jack’s things from their house in Seattle. Playing with the engagement ring Jack had given him mere months before he was vanished by what Sammy’s best friend, Ben, had named the Shadowmaker. And his sister coming to King Falls as well had been…it was all too much.

But then, somehow, _somehow_ his and Debbie’s plan had worked. Somehow the plans of those on the other side had worked and coincided. Somehow he and Debbie, who had been away from the physical world for decades, came out of the void and into solid, and it was _so_ overwhelming, their bodies and minds exhausted and in shock, that they collapsed.

They were in the hospital a few days each before they were released. Debbie to her astounded and baffled niece and nephew, now middle aged, and Jack to Sammy and Lily.

Sammy and Lily communicated something between them with just looks, surely there were conversations while he was gone and while he was in a coma. Something had shifted, for the better, between the two, of which he was glad. When they were checking Jack out, Sammy wordlessly went through the front door of Big Pine’s Hospital, while Lily signed another form and hoisted the overnight bag that Sammy had brought for Jack, containing some of his clothes and some toiletries he picked up from a pharmacy, his medications for his pain and other issues, and some get well cards and gifts from people who were close to Sammy and Lily. People named Emily, Ben, Chet, Troy, Ron, Mary and Tim, Herschel, and Betsy, whom he later learned was Ben’s mother, from the ground and plopped it right in Jack’s lap, before pushing his wheelchair forwards. A nurse followed them, chatting with Lily with a familiarity that told him that his sister, and probably his fiancé as well, were well known at this place. He decided, as the sliding glass doors opened to the cool night air, to mull over this fact later.

Sammy pulled up in a dark blue 4-Runner, different from the car he had before, put the car in park, and took the bag from Jack’s lap, putting it in the back of the car, while Lily helped Jack get into the front passenger’s seat of the car, saying goodnight and thanks to the nurse, who waved before taking the wheelchair back inside, and getting in the back passenger’s seat behind her brother, shutting the door. Sammy drove in silence, Lily spoke for the first ten minutes to King Falls, before falling silent herself, the entire car a study in shock and the type of tired you only can feel when you’ve been through an emotional and physical wringer.

It took twenty-five minutes to get to King Falls, and Sammy stopped at an intersection, almost unsure of which way he was going, as if he were lost. He looked at Lily through the mirror and she nodded, and he turned right. Jack’s curiosity as to what had been said between the two doubled, as it seemed like Sammy was lost in more ways than one, and Lily had become his guide. They pulled up to a series of townhouse style apartments, and Sammy drove into the spot for number eight before turning off the car, the keys falling onto the middle console with a loud clank, and he looked…he looked like he was finally letting himself breath for the first time in ages. He probably was.

“Alright, we’re here. Welcome to Casa Stevens.” Sammy said, breaking the long silence in the car. He and Lily opened their doors at the same time, Sammy going to the back to grab the overnight bag, Lily going to the front passenger’s seat to help Jack out of the car. They walked down the sidewalk, in the middle of two of the apartments, and turned left, to number eight. Sammy put the key in the door, opened it, and went inside, Lily and Jack following close behind. Jack looked around the downstairs area of Sammy’s place and felt a mixture of emotions. It was so much like Sammy, there was a familiarity to the design and the décor that he felt like he got a glimpse back in time. But then, it was also so very different from what he knew Sammy’s style to be. There were boxes everywhere, like he’d been in the process of packing to leave, which, he knew, he had been. It was part style, part chaos, and part never-going-to-stop-moving, and it was all Sammy Stevens. Sammy set the bag on one of the two couches that occupied the living room and ran his hands over his face, sighing deeply. He looked at the Wright siblings, who had been looking at him, and smiled weakly.

“Sorry. Just…tired. As you both are. Does…does anyone want some coffee or tea or…I don’t really have much by way of food but…”

“Coffee would be great, Sammy. Thanks.” Lily replied, giving Sammy the out she knew he wanted. Sammy nodded and walked down a hallway to the right of the front door, turning on a light and illuminating the kitchen, hallway, and dimly lighting the living room as well. Lily sighed herself and nodded towards the couches. Jack followed her and sat down next to where Sammy had put his bag, looking around the room and trying to decipher just how it felt to be in a space of Sammy’s that he didn’t entirely know. He decided it felt weird.  He also wondered if Sammy was mad at him. He’d barely touched him at all since he woke up, and he could feel a strange distance between them, coinciding with a connection stronger than he’d ever felt with anyone else. It was like disassociating in your own body, except the body you were disassociating from was not your own, even through it felt like it sometimes. Was he mad? Mad that Jack had gone down that rabbit hole and gotten taken? Mad at him for shutting him out in that last month before he was snatched up? Did he…did he decide that Jack wasn’t worth it? That he was too broken after…

The words left his mouth before he had time to think about it, and the look of perplexity on his sister’s face told him right away he was off the mark.

“Is Sammy mad at me or something? Does he not love me anymore?” Jesus Wright, get your shit together, his mind scolded. Lily sighed in frustration, hanging her head on her chest, and gathering herself before she looked back up at him through the dimness of the room.

“Jack Wright, I would love to know what medications the hospital has you on right now, because you’d have to be pretty fucking high to think that Sammy Stevens isn’t 100%, head over heels, completely batshit crazy in love with you. One time, when I called into the show to yell at him…don’t give me that look, I thought you were dead and I had just been arrested a couple of weeks before and I was on edge, okay, I wasn’t proud of it. Anyway, Sammy and I were arguing as per usual, and I suggested he move on with his life, maybe date this other guy in town who is gay…don’t look at me like that Jack, again, I thought you were dead, I was upset and slightly drunk, and I said I wasn’t proud of this. Anyway, I had never, in all my years, heard Sammy so mad at me. I genuinely thought he was going to somehow magically reach through the phone and punch me in the face. That man searched high and low, got himself arrested, did a multitude of stupid shit to find you. He even…” Lily paused, the look on her face turning sad and confused.

“Tried to join me in the void. I know.” Jack added. “I saw him. It was quite a sight to behold. The first time I see him sort of in person in over three years and the idiot tried to join me in hell.” The sadness that he’d been simmering within him was finally overflowing, and he ran his hands over his face in the exact same manner Sammy had. They could hear the clank of mugs being taken down from a cabinet, and knew he’d be back in the room soon. “So…I mean…why…”

“You noticed how he looked at me when we came back into King Falls yeah? You want to know why?” Jack nodded. Of course he wanted to know why. “He was asking me if we should come here or if we should go to the hotel I’ve been staying in for the last couple of weeks. The hotel was to the left, his place to the right. If I’d shook my head he would have gone left. But I didn’t. I nodded. While you were still out, Sammy broke down and told me he was afraid that you didn’t love him anymore. That you wouldn’t want to be with him and blamed him for you being in the void for so long. That after you saw him at the Gate, you hated him for not getting you out right then, or for failing to join you. He’s…he’s afraid you don’t love him anymore, and he’s trying to give you space in case you don’t want him to be around. I  told him he was being an idiot, that he was pretty much your entire world, but you know how Sammy is.” Jack nodded, unfortunately he did. “So I told him I’d observe and make decisions based on how you seemed to be feeling. But he was just so desperate to not crowd you, it was painful to watch.”

“I…I didn’t mean to…” Lily shook her head, putting a hand up to signal him to stop. Mugs were being put on something, a tray probably, and they heard the cupboards opening and closing. The fridge opening and closing. Sammy cussing.

“You didn’t do anything Jack. Sammy’s just…he’s been blaming himself for this entire thing. And…” Lily bit her lip and winced. “I haven’t exactly helped him feel different. And I’m sorry for that. I just…my little brother was gone, and I wasn’t coping well. Neither of us were. We’re fucking messes. Why do you even like us?” Lily added, with an attempt at humor. Jack smiled sadly at her as the sound of Sammy coming back down the hallway and appearing again in the living room warned them to stop talking. His hair was disheveled, once in a bun near the top of his head, it was sliding out of the hair tie in the back, and the beard he’d grown, in the last few months as Lily would later inform him, looked unbrushed and messy. He was wearing boots, dark wash jeans, a blue shirt, and a green plaid long sleeve shirt, unbuttoned, over it. He looked tired and worn down and had definitely aged in the last few years.

Jack would swear he’d never seen or been more attracted to someone ever. Sammy was different to be sure, he’d aged, his hair had grown out more, he looked like he’d been through hell, but he was the most wonderful sight Jack had seen in years, and he would swear, just like in some sappy love story, he fell in love with Sammy all over again in that moment. Sammy set the tray down, containing three mugs of coffee and a bag of animal crackers. He passed a mug to Jack, then Lily, and made to pick up his own mug and move to an armchair, when Jack reached out and tugged on his unbuttoned shirt, nodding to the space next to him. Sammy took the last mug and gently sat down next to Jack, a few inches away. Jack rolled his eyes and shifted until there was no room between them at all, placing his head on Sammy’s shoulder, and holding onto the mug for warmth.

By the time they all admitted they couldn’t possibly stay up any longer, the coffee having no effect on them whatsoever, it was 3 am and it was agreed that Lily would sleep there, and in the morning they would all go to Rose’s for breakfast, since the only food Sammy had in the apartment had been the crackers, coffee, and a bottle of hot sauce.

Lily got up from the couch and went back down the hallway, opening and closing the door of what Jack presumed was the guest bedroom, calling out “Night losers!” as she went.

Sammy got up slowly, stretching his long limbs as he yawned so loud, Lily probably heard him, and turned towards Jack, holding out a hand.

“Think you can make it upstairs alright?” Sammy asked. Jack nodded, taking Sammy’s hand and hoisting himself up.

“Come on big guy, let’s get some sleep. You can always carry me across the threshold bridal style after our wedding.” Jack teased, pulling Sammy close to him and kissing him soundly. He relaxed into the kiss, the feeling of Sammy’s arms snaking around him fulfilling an ache he’d had for years. His own hands snaked around Sammy’s neck and pulled him closer, reveling in the moment. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a long, long time.” Jack breathed when they finally broke apart. “God I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Sammy replied, their foreheads resting together. “Jack, I…”

“Ah ah ah.” Jack wagged a finger at his now blushing fiancé. He put one of his fingers on Sammy’s lips, shushing him. “This wasn’t your fault okay? I want you to know that. It wasn’t anyone’s fault really, except for that weird Shadow  creature.  I am back, I am back here with you, and I am safe, and the Shadow creature is gone. We are going to get married and become an old married couple that younger people coo at at parks. We’ll have a life now because we never gave up, not really. We never gave up on seeing each other again, and that’s one hell of a strength Stevens. So let’s go to bed, sleep, and then have breakfast with my sister, and start our lives okay?” Sammy nodded, silently. “Good. Remind me to go through these boxes and look for my shit later. You brought my shit with you right?” Another nod. “Good. I need clothes. Sleep now. Then food. Then shit searching.” And then it was Jack dragging Sammy to the stairs and up to the second landing, through a door, and into the rest of their lives.


	13. Jack and the Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All is quiet throughout King Falls. The beginnings of dawn are starting to show on the horizon, and newly returned Jack Wright can't believe he's back.

* * *

 

It was the morning after the portal closed. The morning after they had defeated the Shadowmaker. The morning after they ended the misery that had been plaguing King Falls for decades. The morning after they got Debbie, Jack, and many of the people caught in the void out. Well, it was already 2 am when they got them out, but that’s just semantics.

Everyone in town was in bed, or asleep in a chair, on a floor, anywhere. They were drained by the events from hours before, and their bodies insisted they rest.

Emily and Ben had fallen asleep on the couch at Ben’s apartment.

Troy went home and promptly collapsed into bed beside a worried Loretta.

Tim, the _real_ Tim, and Mary rushed home after to meet Mary’s mother and their kids, and fell asleep in their bed, kids in between them.

Ron, Chet, and Archie all fell asleep in Ron’s living room after a whiskey each.

Debbie was asleep in a hospital bed at Big Pines General.

Lily was dead-to-the-world asleep on Sammy’s couch at his apartment, a blanket retrieved by Sammy after she fell asleep draped over her.

Sammy and Jack…Sammy and Jack were fast asleep in the bed located in his guest room, too tired to go up the stairs to his bedroom.

Or, at least, Jack _had_ been asleep.

It was silly, or maybe it wasn’t, he couldn’t tell, but the light from the dawn that was just then creeping over the trees and the mountainside that woke him up. The guestroom’s main window faced east, and he just so happened to have fallen asleep on that side of the bed. The creeping natural light that made the room barely visible, and the now unfamiliar presence of another person, one of Sammy’s arms had, during the time he was asleep, flung itself over Jack’s torso and pulled him close, as if he was trying to protect him. Jack realized he was. Even in his sleep, Sammy’s instinct was to protect. He had a bit of that before, he’d lash out at people who were being assholes, once punched some prick who tried to feel up Lily in the face before Lily promptly kneed the main in the groin. But this felt…new.

Of course, it probably was new. He had been…gone for nearly four years, things change. People change.

Sammy had changed, but apparently it was for the better. Jack had been too tired to press the matter, but he could tell Sammy had changed a lot. From the way Sammy had kept him close from the moment he got out of the void, never letting go of his hand, yelling at several people for their incompetence and ‘How the fuck could you possibly think this was okay? You nearly killed my fiancé and about a hundred others!’ there had been a shift.

Nearly killed my fiancé and about a hundred others.

My fiancé.

 _My fiancé_ , said while holding onto Jack’s hand, pushing him behind as if to protect him. As they walked to Sammy’s friend Ben’s car, following Ben and a woman named Emily, Jack looked to his side at Sammy and he’d never seen Sammy so furious and upset. And tired. Jack had never seen Sammy looking so damn bone tired.

Lily was walking on Jack’s other side, her left hand holding onto a bit of the sleeve on the jacket Sammy had put on Jack when it was all over. She too looked furious and exhausted and…different.

Jack took in a deep breath of air, the room smelling of cool, damp air from the window screen they had open, and whatever laundry detergent Sammy used to wash the sheets and blanket on the bed. He took it all in, the coolness of the breeze, the scents of the room, the warmth from the man behind him, holding him close, as if he might disappear, and felt…overwhelmed. In the void you couldn’t feel much of anything except dread, anger, and sadness. That’s what the Shadowmaker had fed on, what the shadow people lived off of. To know that he could still feel things, that he was safe? That felt strange.

Jack felt the arm around him shift slightly and saw the hand that he had entwined with his own start to slip away as Sammy turned in his sleep. Jack, not wanting to let that connection go, turned with him, and they were reversed. Jack had one of his arms around Sammy’s torso, protective, and Sammy was the one being protected.

He scooted closer, closing the small gap between them, and indulged in this quiet moment that they had, even if Sammy was asleep. Sammy was there. His Sammy was there. After he had been so sure he’d never see him again, here he was, in Sammy’s condo, Sammy asleep before him, solid and warm and _real_. The first human touch he’d had in nearly four years was Sammy Stevens, and Jack couldn’t think of anyone more appropriate, not even his sister.

Lily had always been a skeptic, a regular Scully to his Mulder, without the poorly disguised sexual tension of course. Where Jack was ready and willing to jump down the rabbit hole of research and hearing stories about something strange, some sort of cryptid or supernatural, Lily remained uninterested and skeptical. But not anymore, not after tonight. Not after she watched Sammy pull Jack from a screaming, green light glowing void. Not after she witnessed the Shadowmaker try to follow Jack through, grabbing his leg. When the wailing of thousands of souls, already lost to the void, filled the air. It’s hard to remain skeptic when one sees what she saw that night.

“I still don’t believe in the damn lake monster though.” Lily had muttered as they walked to the car from the dock where everything had gone down. Not two seconds later, they heard a loud splash, and, turning back to the lake, what looked like a long tail with scales and…fins, disappearing under the water. “Jesus Christ this town is trying to kill us all.” Lily amended.

Jack shifted slightly, being careful not to wake Sammy, and moved so he could look over Sammy’s shoulder at his face. Sammy had aged of course. It’d been a few years, but Jack felt the pang of sadness at this. Not just because he knew some of that aging was due to worry from Jack being gone, but also because he hadn’t been there to age with him. He planned to spend the rest of his life with this man and had missed nearly four since they’d gotten together.

He was still going to spend the rest of his life with this man. They had a wedding to plan, a simple one, a small wedding, and soon.

Three years and eight months was a long enough engagement in Jack’s opinion. It was time to make it official, time to make Sammy an honest man.

The little joke he made in his head made him laugh, and, much to his horror, he felt the body under his arm shift.

“Shit.” Jack whispered.

“Watch your language Wright.” Sammy’s sleep-riddled voice jokingly chastised.

“Fuck off Stevens.” Jack replied out of instinct and smiled when he could feel Sammy laughing. Sammy shifted and turned around, Jack’s arm still slung around him, looking into the other man’s eyes. “Hi.” He said softly. Jack felt the butterflies in his stomach flutter, and wondered at how, after all these years, Sammy still could have an affect like this on him.

“Hi.” Jack replied, smiling. Sammy’s eyes were tired but happy, and Jack didn’t think he’d ever get over being with him again. Being able to see him clearly, to talk to him, to touch him, to love him. He’d see images of Sammy in the void, some old, some current, all achingly far away. Occasionally he could hear Sammy, especially if Debbie was trying to dial out, and the ache in his stomach would get worse. But here, now, now he could touch Sammy’s arm, breath the same air, talk to him, kiss him, and it felt like a second chance, a miracle.

“What are you thinking about?” Sammy asked, his free hand having wandered over to Jack’s face, brushing away the stray strand of hair that had fallen across his eyes. Jack leaned forward, gently, and kissed Sammy, because he could, and felt the last of the tension in his body ease away. When he broke off, he rested his head on the pillow close to Sammy and smiled.

“I love you.” was his answer, and the grin on Sammy’s face sent another wave of butterflies through him.

“I love you too. Was that what you were thinking about?”

“No. Well sort of. I was thinking…we need to get married soon.” Jack laughed at Sammy’s eyebrows shooting up, and kissed him again.

“Soon soon?”

“Soon soon.”

“We just got you back. Are you sure you are up to planning a wedding so soon?”

“Sammy, I’ve wanted to marry you for over ten years now, yes I am sure.” Another shocked expression from Sammy made Jack giggle. “What? I had a crush on you from the moment I met you. It was a semi-rapid progression.”

“We were kind of idiots in college, weren’t we? I had a crush on you when I fist met you as well.”

“Well, we’re here now aren’t we? So why don’t we get married?” Sammy’s smile reached both sides of his face, and it was he that pulled Jack in for a kiss this time.

“Yeah, let’s get married soon.”

“Next week?”

“Two weeks.”

“Next week.”

“Two weeks.”

“Week and a half?” Sammy rolled his eyes at the love of his life, but grinned.

“Yeah okay, quick wedding. Week and a half from now.”

“Good. Now get some sleep you grumpy man.” Jack admonished, not entirely serious.

“ I’m your grumpy man.” Sammy amended.

“Yes, yes you are.”

When they woke up again, several hours later, they found Lily, Ben, Emily, Troy, and Mary in the living room, coffee brewing, food being cooked, and several wedding magazines spread over the coffee and dining table, Emily with a pencil in her hair, studying the magazine before her, and notes on a pad next to her. When they entered the room, everyone smiled, Ben said ‘Well good morning sleeping beauties.’, and for the first time in years, Jack felt great.


	14. Regrets and New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily's seen so much...too much. And Sammy's doing what he does best, blaming himself.

* * *

 

To say that Lily Wright was exhausted, overwhelmed, and just… _done_ , would have been an understatement. She blinked at the vending machine in front of her, trying to pick _something_ to eat. She hadn’t eaten in what…15, 16 hours? Maybe more? The last couple of days were blurred together.

Sammy should eat too, and maybe she should get a third thing in case Jack woke up during the night. He was heavily sedated, but who knows?

“Fuck.” Lily muttered, pressing a random set of numbers. There was a whir, and a pack of Tropical Skittles hit the bottom of the machine. She fumbled in her pocket for more coins, started to put them in the slot, and then dropped some, cursing the entire time. One ran away from her, the clanging sound amplified by her exhaustion, before it hit the black boots of a person who was walking down the hallway. Emily Potter, her hair in a messy ponytail, holding a carrier of coffee cups, bent down and picked the quarter up, walked over to Lily, and placed it in the slot of the machine, a soft, understanding smile on her face. She looked at the selections, pursed her lips, and then pressed two buttons, a pack of Gardetto’s Snack Mix falling to the bottom and joining the Skittles. Lily looked at the vending machine, and then to Emily, who shrugged before handing her one of the cups.

“Sammy’s vending machine favorite.” She stated, her voice thick with exhaustion and worry. “I had a…relapse, awhile back after I … well after my abduction, and he would come to visit me. Always ate those.”

“Ah.” Lily replied, bending down and taking the two bags out of the machine and shoving them in an empty pocket. She took a sip of coffee, and felt her bones warm, as well as her mood mellow out. She still felt cold, she hadn’t realized. She wondered if she ever would feel truly warm again. The things she saw… the coldness and darkness she felt in those woods outside the Science Institute… She scanned the machine, trying to decide what Jack would possibly like from the box of calories, fat, and sugar. “Fuck it.” She said again, shoving more quarters into the machine, punching a specific set of numbers, and watching a Three Musketeer’s bar fall to the bottom. They both started walking down the hallway towards Jack’s room, coming up on Ben, who was leaning against a wall and talking to a tall older man with black hair. Ben looked tired, but from the body language, Lily could tell the tall person was important.  

“Well Sammy said he’ll be staying here regardless. He’ll re-sign his contract now, in fact he already did, I have it with me. As for the time slot before us, I don’t know. I don’t know how long Chet will take to recover. Sammy said if he has to he’ll take over that one as well, he’ll have the time.”

“What about Lily Wright? Is she staying in town or leaving, now that her brother is back and alright?” the man had an accent she couldn’t quite place, slightly Southern, like Gunderson’s, but with a tone of kindness rather than …well…assholery.

“Sammy says she’ll probably leave, if he had to guess. She’ll want to get Jack out of here as soon as possible, or so he thinks.” In his tiredness, and her being blocked by the man, Ben couldn’t see Lily. She paused, and Emily paused with her, confused.

“Isn’t Jack Sammy’s fiancé? Why would he be leaving, or rather, why wouldn’t Stevens be going with them?” the tall man, Merv, she realized, she knew she’d heard the voice before, she’d called him, asked, and Lily wondered the exact same thing. Before Ben could say anything more, Lily took another coffee from the carrier a confused Emily was holding and rushed past the men and into the room ten feet away from them. “Uh oh…” Merv started. “I take it Ms. Wright didn’t know about Sammy’s plans?” Ben nodded.

“So…wait…Sammy’s staying but Jack is leaving? Why?” Emily asked, her confused expression now sad as well.

“It’s Sammy, why do you think?” Ben replied, taking a coffee from the carrier, and slumping into a nearby chair. “He blames himself for everything.”

Lily entered the room more quietly than she had planned, realizing that there was some possibility of waking Jack up despite the sedatives. Sammy was sitting to the right of Jack’s bed, slumped in a chair he’d pulled up right next to it, one of his hands holding one of Jack’s. In that moment she realized how exhausted and drained Sammy was. She hadn’t really stopped to observe that before, and she felt a sudden pang of guilt. Sammy was hard-headed, he was an ass, he was sarcastic and he pushed all of her buttons, but Sammy was still her friend, still family. He was still the love of her little brother’s life. Sammy had always had anxiety issues, problems with depression. He’d lash out, he’d had a rough childhood and an annoying set of teenage years. Sammy could be problematic, confrontational, a prick. But, she had to admit, much of the Sammy she’d known from years before had been replaced with a different Sammy. A tired, broken hearted, stretched-to-thin-for-this-shit one. One that tried to close a portal to another world to save a town. One that tried to…tried to join her brother in the Void.

All these people thought Sammy had plans to go back to the big city when he said he was leaving, but Lily knew better. That’s why she kept pushing him to renew, to stay. Because the alternative, as much as she tried to hate the man, was too much. She couldn’t lose her brother and Sammy too.

She set the coffees on a small nightstand behind Sammy, as well as the bag of snack mix, took a chair from the other side of the room, and brought over a chair from the other side of the room.

His head was tilted away by the time she sat down, but she could tell from his body slightly shaking that he was crying. What a sorry picture they must be making right now.

“I heard Ben talking to Merv outside.” She said quietly, unsure how to broach the topic with him. What exactly was her plan? Tell him he was making the right decision? Because he wasn’t. Because as much as Lily has cursed this man’s name, and cursed at him over the years, she knew separating him and Jack was a bad idea for both involved. As much as she wanted to think that none of this would have happened if they hadn’t left, she knew that there was no way to be sure. Not now, not after what she’s seen. She knew they loved each other deeply, and it wasn’t her place to say otherwise, no matter how many misgivings she had. No matter how mad she got. She knew Sammy was a good person when it came down to it, and Jack loved this man more than anything else in this world. This had been blaringly evident when they were younger, and showed itself even more earlier when, upon exiting that fucking void that had kept him prisoner for years, Jack only had eyes for Sammy and, as soon as he spotted him, made a beeline straight for him, clinging to him and refusing to let go for ages. He let go eventually and hugged her, tight, but she had seen the look on his face when he’d seen Sammy, he had come home, and home was a person for Jack. Home was Sammy. “Sammy…”

“What do you ….what do you want me to say Lily? I… I thought you’d have been happy, finally getting away from me for good. You and Jack can go back to California and live your lives free of the man that ruined them. Jack will…Jack will finally be away from me. Here and away from me, away from…” Sammy’s voice was shaking, and she could see, even in the dim light of the room, his head turn again towards Jack. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry Jack, I’m so sorry I didn’t do more to help. I’m so sorry that I thought your research was ridiculous, I’m so sorry I thought you were going down a rabbit hole because… I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have and look at what happened. I should have pushed more for you to stop, I should have taken all those books and that research and trashed it. I should have taken the phone and blocked the numbers. Although…although Debbie and the Shadowmaker probably would have gotten through anyway but…but maybe I could have convinced you not to go or…or if I had gone with you maybe we…maybe you wouldn’t have been taken or we would have been taken together I… You deserve better Jack, you always did. You were always such a bright, shining person. Talented, funny, charming…god…god you were…are…charming, that’s why it was so easy to fall for you.” Sammy wiped away some tears with his other hand and laughed a self-deprecating, exasperated laugh. “I think I was a goner from the moment we met, I just didn’t know it yet. And you had the dumb luck to fall for me too. Dumbest mistake of your life really.” Another laugh. “I love you Jack, I always have, always will. I followed you here to this fucking mountain area, to King Falls, and I tried…I tried so hard to find you but it hadn’t been enough had it? I was too…stupid, to unprepared. I didn’t know what I was doing, and that ended up being…god you were there for years Jack. Years. If only…If you’d been in my place you would have gotten me back in no time, I’m sure of it. You would have done the right thing, talked to the right people. You wouldn’t have given up until I was back and I…I gave up. I gave up and I’m so fucking sorry. I’m so sorry that I was too weak and too stubborn to get help, to keep going and get you back sooner. Jack… I love you. I love you and I’ll never stop loving you and I’ll never stop being sorry for what happened. You’ll be infinitely better off without me…” He was crying…and Lily was crying…again. And they were there crying, in the same space but not together. They were crying over the same thing but not in the same way, and Lily felt just as distraught as she had before.

“Sammy…” her voice croaked and she felt her heart breaking all over again. She’d only ever seen him this upset once before, right after Jack had gone missing, and back then she was so wrapped up in her own grief, anger, and confusion to do anything about it.

“It’s better like this.” Sammy said, after a few minutes of tense silence. “You were right, none of this would have happened if…of course who knows but the chances of it happening I mean…I think we can both agree that the biggest mistake of Jack Wright’s life was Sammy Stevens. God…that makes me sound like I am some important whatever but… He deserved better Lily, you know this, I know this. He deserved better before and deserves better now. And you guys will find that in California or wherever you decide to go. I’ll stay here, just like you wanted me to. I’m not…I won’t…I won’t kill myself…” He added, looking at her for the first time since she entered the room. The shock of his expression made her shift. “But I’m done. The world doesn’t want me, the void didn’t want me, and I’m bad luck to the love of my life. Go figure.” Another humorless laugh came from him before he reached over to the nightstand and took the coffees, handing one to Lily before taking a long sip from his. “He’ll meet someone else. Live a good life. You’ll both become even more famous and you’ll do well. You two were always meant for that, I could always tell. I…” Lily was trying hard not to cry, because Jesus, one of them had to keep their shit together right? In the fucking hospital room where her brother lay sedated, having just come out from a literal fucking void after nearly four years, one of them had to keep it together, right? But she knew she was kidding herself.

“Sammy, I think you’re forgetting one all important factor here.” Lily interrupted, hating the shakiness of her voice. “You’re forgetting that this little decision of yours isn’t just your decision. Not…not after… the moment you and Jack became a couple, it became a decision that needed to be discussed. You… Jack loves you Sammy. You’re it for him as well. He’s not going to meet someone else and live out his life all happy and shit. Even if he did leave with me to go back to wherever, his heart would still be here. He’d be _miserable_. He could function, yeah, but he’d be miserable. He’d come back. You’re stuck with that man whether you like it or not Stevens. If you stay here, he stays here. I know he’ll want to stay wherever you are. I know this for a fact. If you leave, he’ll leave with you.”

“What if he’s changed his mind though Lily? What if he wakes up and realizes what a piece of shit I am? What…”

“Sammy I saw the way he looked at you when he came out of that darkness, you were the only thing on his mind. Those aren’t the actions of a man who has changed his mind as to whether or not he wants to be with someone. He looked through the chaos for you, spotted you, and made a beeline for you without hesitation. He pushed people out of the way, nearly tripped, and went straight for you, not letting go for nearly an _hour_.”

“But…”

“No buts. He made his choice over a decade ago and I know he’s going to stick with it.” She could see it in his expression, he wanted to argue, wanted to remove himself somehow because his guilt was palpable, and her heart hurt.

“Yes, he did. And he chooses the idiot sitting in the chair next to his bed.” Sammy and Lily turned towards the bed to see Jack, eyes not fully open but clearly awake, his grip on Sammy’s hand tighter, shaking his head.

“Hey there idiot.” Lily greets, smiling for the first time in ages.

“Hey there nerd.” Jack replied, his voice croaking. Sammy took the water with the straw from the nightstand and helped Jack drink a bit before returning the cup to the stand, but he didn’t sit back down. “Hey there fiancé. Four years is a bit long for an engagement if you ask me. We better get planning.” Sammy laughed and shook his head. “And stop with that bullshit. I could hear you guys. Sammy Stevens you must not know me as well as you think if you believe I’d leave you like this. Of course I’m staying with you. No, this wasn’t your fault so don’t start. If we’re staying here then we’re staying here. Now, if you don’t mind kissing someone who’s lips are chapped, I think I’m long overdue…” Sammy needed no more prompting, and promptly leaned down and kissed him. Lily wiped tears from her eyes and got up quietly. Before she could make it out the door, Jack called out to her. “And where are you going, sister mine? We’ll promise to behave if you do.” Jack had shifted a bit in the bed, and Sammy had slipped in next to him, and, much to Lily’s true joy, they both looked happy.

“I’ll be back. I just need to talk to someone about something.” Lily replied. They nodded and she left the room. By then Ben and Emily were both seated, Merv was gone, but both of the people remaining looked up as soon as she came into the hallway.

“You’re smiling.” Emily noticed. “Is…is everything okay now? Is Jack awake? The sedatives must not have been that powerful…” Ben looked anxious, and Lily knew why.

“Yeah, everything’s great.” Lily replied. “I wanted to ask Ben um… If I take over Chet’s spot before you guys, is there a chance at getting another spot after he returns or…?” Ben sprang up from his seat, his coffee cup going flying, causing him to cuss briefly, before he looked back at her, eyes shining.

“I’m sure there is. Merv is looking for new talent and we need someone for Chet’s spot. Does this mean…?”

“Jack’s going to need a job too.” Lily added. “He’s a good producer. He could produce my show, or your guys’ show. Or both. It’ll depend on how he feels as he recovers…” Ben’s expression hasn’t gone down a single watt, and Lily can see the determination in his eyes, the fire. God he really was so much like Jack.

“I’m sure that can be arranged. Welcome to 660 on the radio dial Ms. Wright.” Ben replied, holding out a hand for her to shake. She took it, shook his hand, and smiled.

“Lily.”

“Welcome then, Lily.”

“Thank you, Ben.” Lily smiled at Emily and then nodded towards the room. “Jack’s awake and they’re being all lovey dovey. Wanna go see if the kitchen is open yet?” Emily nodded and, after kissing Ben on the cheek, she took Lily’s arm and led her to the elevator. As they passed Jack’s open door, she could see that Sammy and Jack had, in fact, fallen asleep, curled into each other. As Emily began telling her a tale involving Sammy, Ben, and an embarrassing incident involving wine, Lily realized, for the first time in years, she was home.


	15. Jack Wakes Up One Morning And...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moments in Jack's life defined by thoughts he has when waking up in the morning. This got long. Fluffy and angsty!

* * *

 

One morning, the day after Jack Wright turned 17 years old, his sister Lily was sitting at the foot of his bed, waiting for him to wake up. She was well aware that her current status was creepy, but she needed to talk to him, and needed to talk to him now. She was 19 and home for the summer from where she went to college in the Bay Area in California. Now sitting in her childhood home in the foothills of Los Angeles, she had important things to say.

Jack however, was taking his sweet time waking up. Their aunt and uncle had left for work an hour ago, and they had the entire rather expansive house to themselves. Lily wanted to say what she wanted to say and then spend the day playing video games, eating garbage, and maybe going to the boardwalk with her little brother.

But he was still asleep.

Teenagers.

Jack felt her presence, or rather felt the dip at the end of his bed, before he opened his eyes and he cringed inwardly. He knew what she wanted to talk about, and it was something he himself didn’t really feel like bringing up. Talking to her about it last night had been difficult enough, as it was something he’d wanted to tell her for awhile and finally getting it out had proved more nerve wracking than he had thought. Even to his older sister, his best friend and confidant, coming out had been one of the tensest five minutes of his life. He knew she knew he’d woken up, Lily had an aptitude for knowing when to barge into a room when it was least convenient.

“Jack.”

He said nothing.

“Jaaaaaccck.”

Nothing.

“Jack I swear to god, I know you are awake. We need to chat and then we can play video games and eat shitty food and maybe go to the boardwalk and people watch.”

“Lily…”

“Yes, my name is Lily.” Jack groaned and sat up, glaring at his sister who had jumped up from where she was seated, and started jumping on his bed. “Now get up, get up, get up!”

“You’re acting like a child.” Jack quipped, although a smile was forming at the corners of his mouth. Lily’s energy could be infectious.

“Yeah, well…” Lily hopped over and then plopped herself down less than a foot away. “I just want to ask you one thing.”

“And what’s that?” Jack felt himself tense up again, not sure what to expect by way of a question that was apparently so important he had to be woken up early.

“When you get married someday, can I be your Best Woman?” Jack felt the breath he’d been holding release, and he rolled his eyes at his sister. “What? It’s a serious question! Your future husband can have his best whatever too, I just want to secure my spot as your best woman early!”

“Lily I’m 17 and just came out to my older sister. Besides you the only people who know I’m gay are Aunt Winnie and Uncle Duke. I don’t think I’ll be getting married any time soon. If at all.” The Wright Eyeroll was a patent that the two were planning on filing someday due to how dramatic it was, and Jack was currently getting it from his sister.

“You will. You’re gonna get married and live in a cozy house somewhere in some weird quiet town, and you’ll have a dog and a kid, and it’ll be very sweet and cavity inducing.”

“Yeah, sure.” Jack commented nonchalantly, getting out of bed. “I’m sure it will be very nice. I’ll meet some guy in college, we’ll be sweethearts and get married and it’ll all be a fairytale.” He rummaged through one of this dresser doors and fished out a pair of pants.

“Hmmm.” Lily contemplated, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and looking at him. “I like the idea of college sweethearts. Maybe you’ll meet him first day of class one semester and the only seat left will be conveniently right next to him and you’ll have a crush right off the bat.” Lily grinned at the face her brother was making, exasperated but affectionate.

“Come on.” Jack said, pulling on a shirt and grabbing shoes as he came back in from the bathroom. “Let’s go eat breakfast Lily the Sightseer.”

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack is 19 when the sound of his phone getting a text alert wakes him up. It’s the first day of his second year in college at the same university Lily attended in the Bay Area and he didn’t want to think about how he had to drag himself across campus for his Journalism 351 class. Lily, in her last year at the school, sent him a text that simply said “TODAY’S THE DAY BITCH!”. She sent it at the beginning of every semester since he started, and he rolled his eyes. Lily took her prediction that he’d meet the love of his life on the first day of one of his semesters in college very seriously.

He’d be mad, but he found it endearing in a sense. His sister just wanted a happy ending for him in a world that constantly threw unhappy endings at people, and he could hardly fault her for it.

Jack nearly spilled his coffee on himself running to make his first class. Each semester he tells himself he won’t sign up for an 8 am class, and each semester, somehow, a class he needed for his degree would be at 8 am. The universe clearly hated him. As he opened the door to the classroom auditorium, he was glad to see it was only 7:50 am, but dismayed to see the place packed. Looking around he spotted an aisle seat at the very back free, and made his way up the stairs. He sat down next to a young man around his age with the hood of his hoodie up, and conspicuously not moving. For a second Jack started to panic that he had passed up until…he snored. Jack snickered and, taking a chance that the man wasn’t an asshole, poked him in the shoulder a couple of times. The man snored then coughed and sat upright, nearly knocking off the notebook and coffee he had on the chair’s pull out table.

“Sorry man, you fell asleep and I doubt the professor would like it if you missed the first class due to sleeping while they talked.” Jack explained, snagging the notebook and the coffee before it could fall over. The man shook his hood off and blinked, turned to Jack, and smiled, taking the notebook and coffee from him.

“Thanks, sorry.” Jack felt a blush creep up his neck and into his cheeks. Oh no, the guy was hot. Well hot and cute. Wavy dark brown hair, green eyes, and a smile that was making Jack happy he was sitting down.

Fuck.

“Not…not a problem.” Jack replied, sitting back in his chair and trying to hide the pink in his cheeks.

“Sammy.” The guy held his hand out for Jack to shake, and Jack took it, trying to mimic his classmate’s calm expression. Jack took the hand and shook it, still slightly blushing.

“Jack.”

As it turned out, Jack and Sammy had several classes together that day, and by the end of the day, Jack knew, at the very least, Sammy was someone he wanted to keep around as a friend. He had similar life goals as him, he was ambitious, smart, and shared his dark sense of humor. He knew Lily would like him as well, and then wondered why he was so excited about that. The little voice in the back of his head told him he knew exactly why he was excited by that, and he told the voice to shut up.

“Want to uh…want to join me and my sister for dinner? We’re just meeting at the pizza place just off campus and I think she’d really like you.” Jack wondered where that came from, certainly not him. He felt a blush creep into his face at the surprised look on Sammy’s face, and tried to backtrack. “ I mean…only if you want to. It’s just…you said you were new to the university as a transfer and wanted to make friends and…I’m… I’m sorry. You’re probably sick of seeing me all day, I’ll just…” Jack moved to turn and leave and then felt a hand on his backpack, making him pause. Sammy was grinning at him and, after walking up to be next to him, flung an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer.

“I would love to have pizza with you and your sister Wright. Gotta get a glance into what insanity I am in for in this friendship.”

When they got to the pizza place, Lily was leaning against one of the outside walls, and looked up when she heard the sound of her little brother laughing the hardest she’d heard him laugh in years, and right next to him was a very attractive young man with a shit-eating grin and eyes that were only on Jack as he was telling one of his awful jokes.

When Jack finally saw her, he blushed at the knowing look on her face and the smile on her lips. Jack rolled his eyes and mouthed ‘Shut up.’.

“Hello there! I’m Lily Wright, this nerd’s older sister.” Lily greeted, holding out one of her hands. Sammy took it and shook it, smirking.

“And I’m Sammy Stevens, said nerd’s classmate in a whopping five classes.”

“Pleasure to meet you Sammy, I think we are going to be good friends.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack wakes up on the morning of his 23rd birthday to the sight of his best friend and one of his roommates less than a foot away from his face, grinning. Jack yelps and flings himself backwards on his bed, nearly hitting his head on the nightstand on the other side. Sammy laughed and set the coffee mug he’d been holding, down on the dresser by his bed, before leaping onto the bed, a habit he’d picked up from Lily over the years.

“Happy Birthday man. That was a dramatic way to wake up.” Sammy commented, staring at Jack with a grin on his face that made Jack get butterflies in his stomach.

“Well maybe it was because I got the shit scared out of me by my best friend creepily watching me sleep less than a foot away from my bed.” Jack quipped. Sammy gave a dramatic sigh that constantly made Jack want to kiss him and punch his arm at the same time. Sammy let himself fall sideways, and laid face up on Jack’s bed, turning to look at Jack and still grinning.

“Whatever man, whatever. So what do you want to do for your birthday? Lily had to go into the studio for a few hours but will be back later. The day is yours Wright, to do with as you please.”

Jack tried very hard not to enjoy the sight of Sammy laying on his bed, still in pajamas himself, hair still ruffled from sleep. He tried not to think about how much he’d like to see this sight every morning. Maybe even for the rest of his life. He felt a blush creep up his cheeks when Sammy said the day was his to do with as he pleased, and the immediate response to that, in Jack’s head, was ‘I’d like to have you to do with as I please.’. Jack had a crush on Sammy from the moment the asshole flung back his hoodie and smiled at him the morning they met, and, much to Jack’s eternal torment, he’d been in love with his best friend for two years now. He felt like a hopeless cliché and wondered if he would ever get over Sammy. They’d both dated a few guys in college, but no one ever seemed to work out. Lily had her own theories, which she voiced to Jack constantly, but Jack didn’t want to get his hopes up. This was a friendship he never wanted to lose, and even if it meant never being with him, Jack wanted to keep Sammy around in his life.

“Earth to Jack, hello Jack.” Jack blinked and Sammy was leaning up on his elbows, eyebrow raised. “You okay? You spaced out on me there.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Jack replied laying back down next to Sammy, as close as he dare. “I don’t know… maybe we could go to that breakfast place off of Ember Street. You know, the one with those cinnamon rolls the size of your head? Then…I dunno…” Jack was acutely aware that what he was formulating in his head was date material outings, but he allowed himself the indulgence just this once. “The Pier?” Sammy smiled at him, and Jack smiled back, enjoying the unusual quiet of the morning in their neighborhood.

“Sounds good to me. Cinnamon buns and the Santa Monica Pier it is!” Sammy moved to get up, but was stopped by Jack’s hand on his arm. Sammy looked at him, puzzled, but lowered himself back down anyway, Jack’s hand still on his arm. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah…” Jack replied, that warm feeling he got whenever Sammy looked particularly good, flowing through him. “I just…I know it’s cheesy but can we just lay here and enjoy the quiet for a few minutes? Things have been so chaotic lately it’s nice to just…enjoy the quiet.” Sammy nodded in agreement, and they laid there for another half an hour before Jack’s stomach growled and indicated they should probably go eat.

Jack decided not to bring up the fact that Sammy’s right hand found his left, and they stayed together the entire half hour.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack is still 23 on New Year’s Day, but Sammy had just turned 23 himself the day before, and they had thrown a party for him. Friends from school and a few people from the station, along with Jack and Lily’s aunt and uncle, who had decided to unofficially adopt Sammy because ‘What a sarcastic young man, he fits right into this family’. The party had been held at said aunt and uncle’s house the night before, since the apartment Sammy, Lily, and Jack shared was too small for the amount of people that were invited, and it had been a great party. They rang in the New Year and drank an excessive amount of alcohol, as parties like that tended to go. But Jack had never been a lightweight, and he remembered a good deal of the night before.

Well, certain parts of the night before.

Before he opened his eyes, he felt the weight of another person in the bed with him, and an arm slung across his side and stomach. He sucked in a breath and opened his eyes, trying to remember how he ended up in his old room, in bed with someone, and whether or not that someone remembered anyone either. He also felt a weird sense of…guilt? Why did he feel guilty? Because he possibly hooked up with someone in his childhood room? It wasn’t like there was a bunch of weird posters and embarrassing things on the walls. The room had changed with him, and it was technically a guest room now.

Sammy.

He felt guilty because of Sammy. But even then, that was ridiculous. They weren’t together. They hadn’t even ever gone on a date, not an actual one. They’d never done anything intentionally coupley. They weren’t a thing. Jack would admit that he had noticed Sammy was a bit more affectionate lately, a bit more touchy-feely. But Sammy could be like that. They weren’t a thing, so why did Jack feel like he was doing something bad?

The arm slung across him moved, and he felt a hand take one of his, pulling him closer. Jack looked down at the hands and started slightly when he recognized a woven bracelet on the wrist.

Oh holy shit, it was Sammy.

Several things flew into his mind in that moment, several questions. Were they wearing clothes? No…no he didn’t believe they were, okay then. What happened? Who started whatever happened? Did anything happen or were they just morons who fell asleep naked? Of course, why would they be naked If not… Maybe they got drunk, undressed, and then fell asleep. Yeah. Maybe they…maybe Lily was pranking them and…

Then he remembered, through a haze of alcohol, laughing, and confetti, he remembered.

It was a few minutes to midnight, and as Jack looked around the semi-crowded living room, he realized he couldn’t see Sammy anywhere. He made his way through the crowd and out the back door, spotting Sammy where he thought he might, leaning against the bannister of the overlook to the garden. The silly “Birthday Boy” crown Jack had made him wear earlier tilted to the side on his head, his back was turned to Jack, and he was pointedly avoiding the people who were running back inside to watch the ball drop on the television. Jack walked over and leaned against the bannister next to him, facing the other way. He looked up at the stars and was surprised he could see any, considering how close they were to the city lights of Los Angeles.

“Hey there birthday boy, don’t feel like ringing it in with the crowd?” Jack joked after a couple of minutes of silence. Sammy laughed and Jack, still looking towards the stars, heard and felt him shift to be facing the same way as well.

“It’s a lot of people.” Sammy commented, moving slightly closer to him. Jack let himself enjoy the warmth that his body brought and wondered if it would be presumptuous of him to move closer as well.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry. The guest list got out of hand.” Jack replied, looking down from the sky and to his friend next to him, blushing yet again when he saw that Sammy was already looking at him. Sammy grinned and bumped his shoulder against Jack’s.

“It’s alright. They’re entertained and it’s a big place. Easy to avoid others.” Jack couldn’t help but notice that Sammy hadn’t leaned away after the bump, and the butterflies in his stomach went into overdrive. “So, Wright, what’s your New Year’s resolution?”

“Isn’t telling a cheat?”

“That’s birthday candle and shooting star wishes.” Sammy corrected, still looking at Jack. “Spill the beans.”

“I don’t know…” Jack turned himself slightly so he was facing towards Sammy, resting an arm on the bannister. “I guess…I mean it’s less of a resolution and more of a…well, wish. So maybe I shouldn’t say just in case.” Sammy laughed, and Jack smiled. Sammy turned to face him and he maintained the closeness, only separated by the length of their forearms.

“You’re such a tease Wright, not telling your best friend all your hopes, dreams, resolutions, wishes. I mean what’s the point otherwise?” Jack rolled his eyes and playfully shoved Sammy’s left shoulder, earning another grin. “What is it? Come on, tell me. Maybe I can help.” Jack internally groaned. If only he knew.

“It’s…silly. It’s just…something I want. That I’ve wanted for a long time and probably won’t ever get. It’s not easy to obtain and it depends on a lot of other things…”

“Oh really? What is it? Perfect abs? That album you lost in college? Nationwide syndication?” Jack laughed and shook his head. “Lily to stop barging in to brush her teeth when you take showers?”

“Funny. No.”

“You have it pretty good Wright. We live in a decent neighborhood, we have jobs, you graduated valedictorian, summa cum laude, you’re charming and nice. People like you. You have a working car and security. These days that’s the life. So, what’s missing? What is it that the great Jack Wright needs?” He’d moved closer, and Jack could smell the rum and coca cola on his breath, the cologne that Lily had bought Sammy for his birthday, and the coolness of the night air. He felt his heart racing and ever so slightly dizzy. He was acutely aware that he was breathing heavier, and leaning a bit forward himself, the sound of Sammy’s own heavier breathing reaching his ears.

“Not so much an it, but a who….” Jack replied. The crowd inside was getting louder, the ball was being dropped, if Jack had to guess, and the countdown was on, repeated by the intoxicated partiers.

“A who? Might be complicated.”

“Yeah, just a bit.” Jack saw the look in Sammy’s eyes and felt a weird sensation, something like relief, wash over him. The look was predatory and slightly…

“Ten!” came from the crowd inside.

Jack thought of a possible future together. A comfortable house, not too big but big enough for a family maybe.

“Nine!”

Sunday mornings being lazy in bed, not getting up until noon.

“Eight!”

Sammy thought about making pancakes and coffee, the sight of a mussed up Jack stumbling into the kitchen at the smell of breakfast. That stupid dopey grin on his face.

“Seven!”

Little road trips up the coast just for the hell of it.

“Six!”

A dog barking at them to hurry up because it wants to go on its daily walk.

“Five!”

A cozy wedding with a small guest list.

“Four!”

A honeymoon somewhere quiet, maybe in some mountain region.

“Three!”

A quiet but comfortable life together.

“Two!”

Maybe a kid or two.

“One!”

Jack pulled him forward by the lapels of his jacket, and they came together like they had been starving, and this was the only thing that would sate them. Sammy grabbed at the fabric of Jack’s shirt from the back and pulled him closer.

“Happy New Year!” Noise makers, shouting, cheering, and the music from the television sounded from in the room, but fell on deaf ears to the people outside.

Jack heard shuffling behind him in the bed, and felt the arm around him start to move backwards. Without much thought, he held on, not wanting this to end too soon. They had both been tipsy last night, they both could blame it on the alcohol even though they were cognizant enough to remember. They weren’t that drunk. He just wanted to savor this for a few more minutes.

Much to his surprise, the tug of his hand stopped Sammy from rolling over, and the arm once more snaked its way around Jack’s midriff.

“Are we going to…pretend this didn’t happen?” Jack felt a sucker punch to the gut at how sad Sammy sounded with his question, how unsure. No matter what, Sammy had always been unsure about himself, about his worth, about his place in the world. Jack loved him, and he hoped one day to rid Sammy of that doubt.

“No.” Jack replied, and smiled slightly when the arm tightened more.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack and Sammy are both 30 years old, and when Jack wakes up one morning, he feels the heaviness of Sammy’s arm around his middle, and his legs tangled with Jack’s own. Then he felt a slight heaviness, a weight he wasn’t used to, on his ring finger, and Jack carefully detached it from the hand it’d been tangled with to look at the engagement ring on his finger.

They had been together for seven years now, and after many ups and downs, fights, make-ups, a move to Seattle, the start of their own show, and a house change, Sammy had proposed last night. It was early in the morning during June of 2014, and while Jack knew they had to be at the station in less than two hours, everything in him didn’t want to get up at all.

He thought about what was next, about how they were going to tell people and when. They’d already agreed that they were going to start telling people at work and in their lives outside of work. Some people knew they lived together, but they’d been convincing in their lie that they were just roommates. Now though, they decided it was time to come clean. They had some doubts of doing it so early, they wanted to ease into it all, but their contracts were up in October and should the station not like it, well, fuck them.

Jack turned around, still within Sammy’s grasp, and looked at his still sleeping fiancé, smiling all over again at the change in term, and knew he’d have to tell Lily, he just wasn’t sure when or how. She’d been living on the east coast the last couple of years, and, during their last phone call, had not so subtly told him if he ever needed a place to stay she had a spare room. He. Not them. Just Jack. It’d been four years since they’d left Los Angeles, and Write On, to move to Seattle and start their own show, and while Jack could understand Lily’s anger and resentment, he was also exhausted by it and the distance. He understood why Lily was angry with Sammy, and had been angry with him, but was annoyed by the fact that her anger had been directed more towards Sammy. It’d been Jack’s idea to start a new show, not necessarily away from Los Angeles, but one that was away from the format that Wright On had been following for years. He’d known Sammy was restless and that they couldn’t have stayed on the show forever. Both of them had wanted the opportunity to showcase their talents away from the station they’d been at for years. Sammy had wanted to become a star, and Jack wanted to be the one to produce and help create that star. He was just as responsible for the move, and Lily had become a bit controlling, but those factors weren’t really acknowledged much. Jack shook his head and scooted closer so he could touch his forehead to Sammy’s. He would tell Lily eventually, and while he was sure there would be some grumbling, he knew she’d be happy for them.

Jack had gotten into researching the paranormal and cryptids a few months ago, much to the chagrin of an eye-rolling Sammy, and had been out of new topics to research until last week when he saw a post on a cryptids sub-reddit titled ‘General Abilene Strikes Again?’, and, curious, clicked on the link to the thread, being pulled into the weirdness that was a small mountain town back east named King Falls.

Maybe that could be an in to repair the damage between him, his fiancé, and his sister. Lily didn’t live that far away from King Falls and Jack wanted to go to the town some time to see some of this weird shit himself. They could meet up, or he and Sammy could go stay at Lily’s and drive to the place for the weekend, or…

Convincing Sammy would be a chore though. An understandable chore, but a chore none-the-less. He had trouble thinking of a way he could spin this to convince him to go. He’d figure it out somehow.

Sammy yawned loudly, and, much to Jack’s surprise, detached from him and rolled to the side before a grouchy, grumbling ‘We need to kill the alarm clock.’ came from Sammy’s mouth. Jack laughed before reaching over and hitting snooze on the alarm clock on his night stand right as it started to go off. Sitting up and letting out an almost jaw-cracking yawn, Jack stumbled out of bed and walked over to the dresser where his and Sammy’s phones were charging. Right as he was reaching for his own, the phone started to ring. Picking it up, Jack frowned when he saw that it read ‘Unknown Caller’. He usually let those go to voicemail, but something about this call compelled him to answer.

“Hello?” Jack greeted, as quietly as he could.

“Hello?” a woman’s voice, confused and tired sounding, was on the other end of the line “Is…um…is this Jack Wright?” Jack felt a chill go down his spine. Who was this and how the hell did they know his name? Jack’s number was on the business cards he would give out, but he hadn’t given any of his new ones out and had any inquiries directed to the station or his email with the last ones, so how did this person know who he was?

“Who am I speaking to, if I may ask?”

“Debbie.” the voice replied. “My name is Debbie and uh…I found your name along with a phone number and…some other names inside this diary…”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

The thing about waking up in a place where time meant nothing because there was nothing there is that you aren’t really waking up, at least not in the traditional sense. It’s more of a blink. Sometimes you are just…floating in nothing, you blink, and then you are sitting or standing somewhere, but that somewhere isn’t actually there either, and you cannot get away from the sensation and knowledge that there is nothing there. Even as you sit or stand or walk or touch something in the sometimes-shaped nothingness, there is still a lingering feeling of nothing. He’s been in his childhood home, his and Sammy’s old apartment in Los Angeles, their house in Seattle, Lily’s old apartment in Los Angeles, Seaworld, Disneyland, and a number of other places since coming here but he wasn’t actually at those places.

He’d been in nothingness, and now he was in a quaint looking, 70’s style house that looked like it had seen better days, all in a blink of an eye. A woman is sitting at a table in the kitchen, and she looked tired and lonely, but most of all she looks defeated. She has black hair in a braid and brown skin, her slouched blue sweater, dark wash and torn jeans, and plaid shirt tied around her waist betrayed the decade she’d been stuck in.

“Hello Jack.” she greeted, not looking up from the diary in front of her.

“Hi Debbie.” Jack returned, walking over to the table and sitting at the chair across from her.

“I’d offer you something to drink or eat but…” she made a hand gesture that accounted for the entire kitchen, where, despite being filled with utensils and kitchen related items, was barren of food or drink of any kind. “I’m afraid I have nothing to offer.”

“It’s fine Debbie. I’m not thirsty or hungry anyway.” Debbie, much to his surprise, looked up from the diary and gave him a small, sad smile.

“I know. Me neither. I wish I could say you get used to it but…” Jack nodded and Debbie’s attention went back to the diary in front of her. Jack sighed and looked around the kitchen, at objects he’d memorized before, at a place he’d been to countless times. Countless because he honestly didn’t know how many times he’d been there, but he knew it had been a lot. He had no idea how long he had been…wherever the hell he was, and the lack of time in any capacity had really messed with his brain. It is an odd sensation when time becomes nothing to you, and therefore the counting and tracking of time became meaningless. He did sometimes wonder how long it had been though, and what was happening with his loved ones at home. He wondered about Lily and Aunt Winnie and Uncle Duke. He wondered about his friends. He wondered about Sammy. God he thought about Sammy all the time. He missed him more than anything and felt a pain in his heart at being separated from him. “Jack…” Jack blinked and was surprisingly still in Debbie’s kitchen, but now the diary was gone, and Debbie’s hair was not in braids but down and she looked concerned.

“How long this time?” Jack joked, and Debbie rolled her eyes.

“How the hell should I know? I blinked and my hair was down, the diary was put away, and you were still sitting there. Who knows what happens during those moments. I don’t even remember you coming here.”

“The Void is a strange place.” Debbie nodded in agreement and stretched out her legs. Nothing would ever be as weird as the sensation of nothing to her. She felt nothing in her limbs, not even numbness. She looked at Jack and felt a pang of guilt, somewhere within herself. She barely remembered much, but she knew that somehow, she was responsible for Jack being here, and not for the first time, wished she could undo it.

“Jack, I’m…”

“Sorry. Yes. I know. And for the whatever number of times it has been, I shall say once more, it wasn’t your fault okay? He controls and manipulates everyone. You weren’t yourself. You don’t need to keep apologizing.”

“How many times have I apologized so far?” Debbie asked with a genuine and confused interest. She’d already apologized? And enough times to elicit that response?

“I…don’t know to be honest. But it’s been a lot, and I just…this wasn’t your fault okay?” Debbie nodded, still not convinced.

Then, the old radio in the corner, next to a wall-mounted, ugly green phone, crackled to life and startled the both of them. The dial jumped and they heard static until a voice began to fill the air. A voice that made Jack experience the far off feeling of his stomach dropping.

“Good evening. My name is Sammy Stevens and you’re listening to King Falls AM, 660 on the radio dial…”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack regained consciousness before he opened his eyes, and the first thing he noticed was that he felt the bed underneath him, something was stuck to his right arm, and his head hurt like hell.

The second thing he noticed was two voices, two very familiar voices, talking in hushed tones to the left of him.

“Stevens you are achieving new levels of stupid right now. Of course, he’s going to still want to marry you, you’re the love of his life. Time in a literally fucking void won’t change that. Trust me.” Lily, he realized, because he’d know her voice anywhere, sounded exhausted, annoyed, and …oddly relieved.

“What if he blames me for what happened? What if he wouldn’t have been taken if I’d just…” Sammy. Oh god it was Sammy and he sounded close. It sounded like he was one a few feet away, and Jack wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch him, but the rest of his body hadn’t caught up to his brain yet.

“He won’t. He loves you. This wasn’t your fault.”

“But what about…”

“What I said a couple of months ago? Fuck what I said. I was drunk and tired and sad and looking for something to stop that. I’m sorry alright? What I said was shitty. And now he’s back, and you two are going to be married and you’re going to be stuck with me as family forever Stevens so we’re just going to have to figure this out alright?” Lily’s tired tone was surprisingly soft, and he heard her shift in her seat, some more movement, and a sigh.

“Yeah, sure.”

Finally, finally, the rest of his body caught up to his brain, and Jack reached out for Sammy and his eyes opened.

“Jack! Jack, baby, hi! Oh thank god. Jack I missed you so much. I’m so sorry…” Sammy moved in closer and gently hugged Jack close to him. Jack felt a hand on his left leg and knew it was Lily’s way of greeting him and still letting Sammy have his own time with him.

“Hello yourself handsome.” Jack croaked, surprised by how dry and scratchy his throat felt. Lily got up and grabbed a water carafe from a nearby table, handing Sammy a glass with a straw, who in turn helped Jack drink. Tears were streaming down both her and Sammy’s faces, and Jack couldn’t help but wonder how long he was gone. “How…how long?” he managed. The two of them looked at each other before Lily looked back at him, sounding nervous.

“Nearly four years.” Jack coughed a bit on the water he was drinking again, and Sammy flinched.

“Jack I’m…”

“It wasn’t your fault Sammy. Don’t start.” Jack said, taking one of Sammy’s arms in his left hand and gently squeezed it. “I’m back and that’s all that matters.”

Half an hour later, they had discussed quite a bit, told Jack a bit of what he missed, and, as Lily snored, curled up on a chair in the corner, Jack enjoyed the feeling of Sammy drawing circles absentmindedly on his forearm.

“What month is it?” Jack asked, a thought in mind. Sammy’s absentminded drawing stopped and he looked at him, curious.

“Uh… May, why?”

“My birthday is in a couple of months. How old will I be?”

“Thirty-four.”

“You know what would be a really amazing birthday present for my thirty-fourth birthday?” Jack asked, a grin on his face and light in his eyes.

“What’s that?”

“Marrying you.” Sammy blushed and laughed, the hand by Jack’s arm returning to his drawing. “I’m serious.”

“I know you are. I’m just… you just got freed from being in a literal void for almost four years and you… Are you sure?” Jack licked his lips and smiled at the love of his life and his uncertainty, even after all this time.

“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life. It’ll be small, just like we wanted. Lily will be my Best Woman, your friend Ben can be your Best Man, and we can do this wherever you want. I just want to be married to you already. I missed you so much.” Sammy leaned forward and kissed Jack, still smiling.

“Alright, July wedding it is then. It’ll be hot though. It gets surprisingly warm in King Falls during the summer.”

“We’ll get married in swim trunks then.” that earned another laugh from Sammy, who took Jack’s left hand in both of his, gently bringing it up to his lips, and kissing his hand.

“I love you.”

“Love you too.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack wakes up, two months later, snuggled close to Sammy on the loveseat they’d fallen asleep in the night before, and grinned.

He was getting married today.


End file.
